What did Johannes Kepler discover while studying Mars that led to his first law of orbital motion? (1 point) Responses Most planets have highly elliptical orbits Most planets have highly elliptical orbits The distance between Mars and the sun is constant. The distance between Mars and the sun is constant. The distance to the sun varies The distance to the sun varies The planets have circular orbits.
The distance to the sun varies
Johannes Kepler discovered that the distance between Mars and the sun varies while studying Mars, which led to his first law of orbital motion. To understand how he arrived at this conclusion, we need to look into Kepler's observations and analysis.
Kepler meticulously observed the positions of Mars in the night sky over an extended period. He measured the distance between Mars and the sun at different points along its orbit. By doing so, he noticed that the distance between Mars and the sun changed as Mars moved along its orbital path. This observation contradicted the prevailing belief at the time that the planets moved in perfectly circular orbits around the sun.
To explain this discrepancy, Kepler formulated his first law of orbital motion, also known as the law of elliptical orbits. This law states that the planets move in elliptical orbits around the sun, not in perfect circles. The variation in distance between Mars and the sun that Kepler observed was a result of the elliptical shape of Mars' orbit.
So, to summarize, Johannes Kepler discovered that the distance between Mars and the sun varies while studying Mars, leading him to formulate his first law of orbital motion, which states that planets move in elliptical orbits around the sun.