Question

eccentric orbit quick check
what does it mean when the orbital eccentricity of a planet is close to 1? (1 point)
○ its orbit crosses over the orbit of another planet.
○ its orbit is a highly elongated ellipsis.
○ its orbit is not closed around a fixed point
○ its orbit is close to another planets.

Explanation:

Orbital eccentricity (\(e\)) measures how "stretched out" an orbit is. The formula for eccentricity of an ellipse is \(e=\frac{c}{a}\), where \(c\) is the distance from the center to a focus, and \(a\) is the semi - major axis. For a circle, \(e = 0\). As \(e\) approaches 1, the ellipse becomes more elongated (flatter and more stretched). An eccentricity of 1 would be a parabola (not a closed orbit), but close to 1 means a highly elongated ellipse. The other options are incorrect: orbital eccentricity has no direct relation to crossing another planet's orbit, an orbit with \(e<1\) (for planets, \(e\) is less than 1) is closed, and eccentricity doesn't relate to how close an orbit is to another planet's orbit.

Answer:

B. its orbit is a highly elongated ellipsis.