What makes an orbit elliptical?

Answer 1

The Earth orbits the Sun in 365.24 days.

Answer 2

It's very often a misspelling of ecliptic. The ecliptic plane is the line that the sun traces (as seen from the earth) as the earth revolves about the sun over the course of a year. Most of the planets orbit the sun (in their elliptical orbits) in proximity to the ecliptic plane. Note the use of "elliptical" vice "eliptic" in the parentheses.

Answer 3

Elliptical means something that is shape like an ellipse or, more commonly, an oval. It is also an exercise machine used for low to no-impact walking or running.

Or

Elliptical pertains to shapes with uneven distances from the center to other points of the shape. If the points are not even, the shape is not elliptical.

Answer 4

Answer #1:

The eccentricity is what measures the amount of elongation.

The major axis of the ellipse is related to the minor axis by the equation:

b/a = sqrt(1-e2)

where a and b are the major and minor axes and e is the eccentricity.

For a planetary orbit with e<0.1 the minor axis is only a half of one per cent

smaller than the major axis, which applies to all the major planets, so the

shape of the orbit is very nearly a circle.

But the Sun is at one focus of the ellipse, which is off-centre by a distance

equal to the eccentricity times the average distance.

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Answer #2:

As has been capably presented in Answer #1 above, the eccentricity of an

orbit is a number related to how much the orbit departs from a perfect circle.

But the 'elongation' of an astronomical object is the angle between the sun

and the object, as seen from Earth. Any object that's farther from the sun at

the moment than Earth is can have an elongation between zero and 180°. But

objects that are always nearer to the sun than Earth is, such as the planets

Mercury and Venus, can never have 180° of elongation ... which translates

directly into the maximum length of time after sunset or before sunrise when

they're visible.

Answer 5

An elliptical orbit is a not exactly circle but like an oval or sphere shaped orbit which means going round in a sphere or an oval shape.

Answer 6

The way the planets orbit; which is in an oval shape!