Question

what is eccentricity?
a comet has an eccentricity of 0.987. what does that mean about its orbit?
a planet has an eccentricity of 0.0037. what does that mean about its orbit?
which orbit has the highest eccentricity?

Explanation:

Eccentricity is a measure of how much an orbit deviates from being circular. For an orbit, an eccentricity of 0 means a perfect circle. As the value approaches 1, the orbit becomes more elongated. A comet with an eccentricity of 0.987 has a highly - elongated orbit. A planet with an eccentricity of 0.0037 has an orbit very close to circular. Among a circle (eccentricity = 0) and an ellipse (eccentricity between 0 and 1), the ellipse has a higher eccentricity.

Answer:

• What is eccentricity? Eccentricity is a measure of the deviation of an orbit from a circular shape.
• A comet has an eccentricity of 0.987. What does that mean about its orbit? Its orbit is highly elongated.
• A planet has an eccentricity of 0.0037. What does that mean about its orbit? Its orbit is nearly circular.
• Which orbit has the highest eccentricity? A. (the elliptical orbit)