An asteroid approaches Jupiter and is slung into a new trajectory around across the solar system. If it's eccentricity is greater than 1, which statement might be true?
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1 point
The asteroid slows down as it passes around Jupiter.
The asteroid continues out of the solar system, never to return.
The asteroid adopts an unusual orbit around the sun, such as an egg shape.
The asteroid falls into an regular orbit around Jupiter instead of the sun.
If the eccentricity of the asteroid is greater than 1, the statement "The asteroid continues out of the solar system, never to return" might be true. A value of eccentricity greater than 1 indicates that the orbit of the asteroid is hyperbolic, meaning it will not be bounded and will not return to the Jupiter or the Sun.
If the eccentricity of the asteroid's trajectory is greater than 1, the statement that might be true is that the asteroid continues out of the solar system, never to return.
To determine which statement might be true in this scenario, let's first understand what eccentricity represents in orbital mechanics. Eccentricity is a measure of how elongated an object's orbit is. It quantifies the deviation of an ellipse from a perfect circle, with values ranging between 0 and 1 for elliptical orbits.
In this case, if the eccentricity of the asteroid's new trajectory is greater than 1, it signifies a highly elongated or open orbit. Since eccentricity values greater than 1 are not physically possible, the statement about the asteroid's eccentricity being greater than 1 would be invalid.
Therefore, none of the statements provided can be considered true.