Question

a comet has an orbital eccentricity of 0.96 and a planet has an orbital eccentricity of 0.15. which is true about the shape of these two orbits? (1 point) the planet and comet have the same distance between foci. the comet only has one focus, while the planet has two foci. the planet has foci that are farther apart. the comet has foci that are farther apart.

Explanation:

The formula for the eccentricity \(e\) of an ellipse is \(e=\frac{c}{a}\), where \(c\) is the distance from the center of the ellipse to each focus and \(a\) is the semi - major axis. For a given \(a\) (assuming similar \(a\) values for comparison, which is a reasonable assumption when comparing orbital shapes conceptually), a larger \(e\) means a larger \(c\) (since \(c = e\times a\)). The comet has a higher eccentricity (\(e = 0.96\)) compared to the planet (\(e=0.15\)). So, the comet will have foci that are farther apart.

Answer:

The comet has foci that are farther apart.