Astronomers discover a new comet that follows a highly elliptical orbit. What is its eccentricity likely to be?
A 0.9200
B 0.1500
C 0.0012
D 0.0009
The eccentricity of an orbit determines how elongated or circular it is. A highly elliptical orbit means that the eccentricity value would be close to 1, as opposed to a circular orbit which has an eccentricity value of 0.
Therefore, the correct answer is:
A) 0.9200
To determine the likely eccentricity of the newly discovered comet's highly elliptical orbit, we can use the given options.
The eccentricity of an orbit describes how elongated or circular the orbit is. An eccentricity of 0 indicates a perfectly circular orbit, while an eccentricity of 1 indicates a parabolic or hyperbolic orbit.
In this case, since the comet's orbit is described as highly elliptical, we can eliminate options C and D, which have eccentricities close to zero (indicating a nearly circular orbit).
Between options A and B, a higher eccentricity would correspond to a more elongated orbit. Therefore, option A with an eccentricity of 0.9200 is more likely to represent the highly elliptical orbit of the new comet.
To determine the eccentricity of a comet's highly elliptical orbit, we need to understand the concept of eccentricity first. Eccentricity is a measure of how elongated an orbit is, with a value ranging between 0 and 1.
To find the eccentricity, astronomers need to measure the comet's perihelion (the point in its orbit closest to the Sun) and aphelion (the point in its orbit farthest from the Sun). By comparing the distances between these two points and the distance from the Sun to the comet's orbit, we can calculate the eccentricity using the following formula:
eccentricity = (aphelion distance - perihelion distance) / (aphelion distance + perihelion distance)
Since we do not have direct measurements of the perihelion and aphelion distances, we need to rely on the information provided in the answer options.
Let's calculate the eccentricity for each option and find the correct answer:
A) Eccentricity = (aphelion distance - perihelion distance) / (aphelion distance + perihelion distance) = (0.9200 - 0) / (0.9200 + 0) = 0.9200 / 0.9200 = 1
B) Eccentricity = (aphelion distance - perihelion distance) / (aphelion distance + perihelion distance) = (0.1500 - 0) / (0.1500 + 0) = 0.1500 / 0.1500 = 1
C) Eccentricity = (aphelion distance - perihelion distance) / (aphelion distance + perihelion distance) = (0.0012 - 0) / (0.0012 + 0) = 0.0012 / 0.0012 = 1
D) Eccentricity = (aphelion distance - perihelion distance) / (aphelion distance + perihelion distance) = (0.0009 - 0) / (0.0009 + 0) = 0.0009 / 0.0009 = 1
By calculating the eccentricity for each option, we can see that the value is 1 for all of them. However, the eccentricity of an elliptical orbit cannot be greater than 1. This indicates that all the given options are incorrect.
Therefore, none of the options provided (A, B, C, or D) are likely to be the correct eccentricity for the new comet with a highly elliptical orbit.