Question

Planetary orbits... are spaced more closely together as they get further from the Sun. are evenly spaced throughout the solar system. have the Sun at their exact center. are highly inclined to the ecliptic. are almost circular, with low eccentricities.

Answer 1

Answer:

E) are almost circular, with low eccentricities.

Explanation:

Kepler's laws establish that:

All the planets revolve around the Sun in an elliptic orbit, with the Sun in one of the focus (Kepler's first law).

A planet describes equal areas in equal times (Kepler's second law).

The square of the period of a planet will be proportional to the cube of the semi-major axis of its orbit (Kepler's third law).

$T^{2} = a^{3}$

Where T is the period of revolution and a is the semi-major axis.

Planets orbit around the Sun in an ellipse with the Sun in one of the focus. Because of that, it is not possible to the Sun to be at the center of the orbit, as the statement on option "C" says.

However, those orbits have low eccentricities (remember that an eccentricity = 0 corresponds to a circle)

In some moments of their orbit, planets will be closer to the Sun (known as perihelion). According with Kepler's second law to complete the same area in the same time, they have to speed up at their perihelion and slow down at their aphelion (point farther from the Sun in their orbit).

Therefore, option A and B can not be true.

In the celestial sphere, the path that the Sun moves in a period of a year is called ecliptic, and planets pass very closely to that path.