The planets, and the satellites that orbit around them, are affected by gravity from the sun and other celestial objects. The effects of gravity at different locations during their orbits prevent their orbits from being circular, and they become elliptical (more or less egg-shapped).
Kepler did not discover ellipses. In 1605 he discovered that the orbits of the planets were ellipses rather than perfect circles.
Johannes Kepler
Johannes Kepler replaced circles with ellipses in the heliocentric model of the universe.
Kepler realised the planets orbits are not circles; they are ellipses.
The planets move intheir ellipticalorbits becauseof the gravitation of the Sun combined withthe inertial velocity of the planets(tangentialto their orbital paths). Mathematics shows the resulting orbits must be ellipses. (Some of the ellipses are in factalmost circles.)
He discovered that planets move in ellipses not circles and that the sun stays in it's own place.
Johannes Kepler, using measured planetary positional data provided by Tycho Brahe, showed that the orbits of the planets were ellipses ("flattened circles"), with the Sun at one focus of the eliipse.
Gravity and inertia. Inertia keeps the planets moving while the gravity of the sun keeps the planets drawn to orbit in ellipses.
The planets orbit the Sun in near-perfect circles, but they are actually ellipses. This is because that although the Sun contains much more mass than the planets in our solar system, the planets pull the Sun slightly, which by definition creates an elliptical orbit.
Ellipses are a scientific word for the shape of an oval. for example the planets orbits are ellipses.
their orbits
Traveled in perfect circles.