Question

How does the orbit of the planets compare to the orbits of comets?

Answer 1

Hint: The path of an object which is under the influence of gravity through space is known as an orbit. An object here could either be a spacecraft, planet, a star or a galaxy. When an orbit is once determined, it allows the future positions of an object to be calculated.

Complete answer:
1.Orbits of Planets: Today, Newton’s work enables us to calculate and predict the orbits of the planets starting from Mercury to Neptune. Thus Mercury has the highest orbital speed having an average of 48 kilometers per second. Neptune which is far away from the sun has a period of 165 years and an average orbital speed of just 5 kilometers per second.

2.Orbits of Comets: In addition to the eight planets, there are many smaller objects present in the solar system. Among them is the moon which is a natural satellite that orbits to all the planets except in Mercury and Venus. In addition, there are two kinds of smaller objects in the heliocentric orbits which are asteroids and comets.

Note:The orbits of all the planets have a rather slow eccentricity with Mercury having the most eccentric orbit while on the other hand, comets have high and greater eccentric orbits. Comets generally have orbits of larger size and greater eccentricity as compared to asteroids. Therefore, they spend most of their time far from the sun thus moving very slowly. As the comet reaches its orbit near to the sun, they speed up and whip through the inner parts of their orbits more rapidly.