I know how they stay in orbit but how do random planets and stuff have the exact speed needed to get to orbit? Is it pure chance or some phenomenon that speds them up or slows them down?
In: 0
Looping orbits are ellipses. Circles are just one very specific exact type of ellipse. (And if you measure precisely enough you can always find enough variation to make an orbit not count as absolutely circular).
And the reason this matters is that while there *is* an exact speed needed to be in a *circular* orbit, there isn’t an exact speed needed to be in some other type of elliptical orbit. There’s a wide band of speeds that work.
The consequence of your speed being “not quite right” isn’t “you fall down”. The consequence is “your elliptical orbit is more elongated, farther from being circular”.
It’s only when that ellipse is skinny enough that part of it touches the planet (or planet’s atmosphere) that the orbit will fail and you’ll crash.
Latest Answers