Most orbits are elliptical; all NATURAL orbits are. There are two foci, or focuses, to an ellipse. The distance between the foci determines how eccentric, or non-circular, they are.
If the two foci are in the same place, then the ellipse becomes a circle. So a circular orbit would have only one focus.
Pluto Thanks for the answer! Unfortunately I meant to restrict the question to the 5 planets visible with the unaided-eye. Mercury, Venus, Mar, Jupiter & Saturn (excluding Earth). My mistake. Then again, perhaps its the planet furthest from the sun would have the greatest deviance from a perfect circular orbit. In that case, of the classical 5, it might be Saturn.
No, the sun is located at one of the two foci of Earth's elliptical orbit, not in the exact center.
probably the sun since one of earths eliptical foci is the sun
The path itself is called its orbit. The shape is an ellipse, with the sun sitting at one of the foci.
No planet has a perfectly circular orbit, though Venus has the least orbital eccentricity of any planet in our solar system.
The orbits of planets are actually elliptical, not perfectly circular. An ellipse is a stretched-out circle. The shape of a planet's orbit can be described as an ellipse with the Sun at one of the two foci.
Planets don't have circular orbits; all orbits are ellipses. A circle has one center, but an ellipse has two focuses, or "foci". The further apart the foci, the greater the eccentricity, which is a measure of how far off circular the ellipse is. Venus has the lowest eccentricity, at 0.007. Neptune is next with an eccentricity of 0.011. (Earth's orbit has an eccentricity of 0.017.) So, Venus has the shortest focus-to-focus distance.
Pluto Thanks for the answer! Unfortunately I meant to restrict the question to the 5 planets visible with the unaided-eye. Mercury, Venus, Mar, Jupiter & Saturn (excluding Earth). My mistake. Then again, perhaps its the planet furthest from the sun would have the greatest deviance from a perfect circular orbit. In that case, of the classical 5, it might be Saturn.
No, the sun is located at one of the two foci of Earth's elliptical orbit, not in the exact center.
The ellipse will become more circular until it becomes a circle when the two foci coincide.
Venus has the almost circular orbit.
probably the sun since one of earths eliptical foci is the sun
False. The shape of the orbit of each planet is an ellipse, not a perfect circle. This is described by Kepler's First Law of Planetary Motion, which states that planets move in elliptical orbits with the Sun at one of the foci. While some orbits may appear nearly circular, they are not perfectly circular.
The path itself is called its orbit. The shape is an ellipse, with the sun sitting at one of the foci.
circuitous path orbit
The law of ellipses, formulated by Johannes Kepler as part of his laws of planetary motion, suggests that the orbits of planets are elliptical rather than circular. This means that the distance between a planet and the Sun varies throughout its orbit, with the Sun located at one of the two foci of the ellipse. This elliptical shape accounts for the changing speeds of planets as they orbit, moving faster when closer to the Sun and slower when farther away.
No planet has a perfectly circular orbit, though Venus has the least orbital eccentricity of any planet in our solar system.