What is the path of satellite called?
An orbiting satellite follows an oval shaped path known as an ellipse with the body being orbited, called the primary, located at one of two points called foci.
An ellipse is defined to be a curve with the following property:
for each point on an ellipse, the sum of its distances from two fixed points, called foci, is constant.
The longest and shortest lines that can be drawn through the center of an ellipse are called the major axis and minor axis, respectively.
The semi-major axis is one-half of the major axis and represents a satellite's mean distance from its primary.
Eccentricity is the distance between the foci divided by the length of the major axis and is a number between zero and one.