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Questions and Answers
What is an astronomical unit (AU)?
What is an astronomical unit (AU)?
The unit of length defined as the average distance between Earth and the Sun; this distance is about 1.5× 10^8 kilometers, or 1.5× 10^11 meters.
What is eccentricity in an ellipse?
What is eccentricity in an ellipse?
The ratio of the distance between the foci to the major axis of the ellipse.
What is an ellipse?
What is an ellipse?
A closed curve for which the sum of the distances from any point on the ellipse to two points inside (called the foci) is always the same.
What is a focus in an ellipse?
What is a focus in an ellipse?
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What is Kepler's first law?
What is Kepler's first law?
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What is Kepler's second law?
What is Kepler's second law?
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What is a major axis?
What is a major axis?
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What is an orbit?
What is an orbit?
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What is an orbital period?
What is an orbital period?
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What is orbital speed?
What is orbital speed?
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Study Notes
Astronomical Terms
- Astronomical Unit (AU): The average distance between Earth and the Sun, approximately 1.5 x 108 kilometers or 1.5 x 1011 meters.
- Eccentricity: In an ellipse, the ratio of the distance between the foci to the major axis.
- Ellipse: A closed curve where the sum of the distances from any point on the ellipse to two fixed points (foci) inside the ellipse is constant.
- Focus: One of two fixed points inside an ellipse. The sum of the distances to any point on the ellipse from the two foci is constant.
- Kepler's First Law: Each planet orbits the Sun in an elliptical path, with the Sun at one focus of the ellipse.
- Kepler's Second Law: A line joining a planet and the Sun sweeps out equal areas in space during equal intervals of time.
- Kepler's Third Law: The square of a planet's orbital period is directly proportional to the cube of the semimajor axis of its orbit.
- Orbit: The path of an object revolving around another object.
- Orbital Period (P): The time it takes an object to complete one orbit around another.
- Orbital Speed: The speed at which an object travels along its orbit.
- Semimajor Axis: Half of the major axis of an ellipse.
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Description
Test your knowledge on key astronomical terms, including concepts like astronomical units, ellipses, and Kepler's laws. This quiz will challenge your understanding of the principles that govern planetary motion and the structure of orbits in our solar system.
