Why, when the planet is accelerated during the ‘close phase’ of its orbit, isn’t it then flung away? I get that gravity pulls/holds it in orbit but why hasn’t it flattened out into a spherical orbit?
In: 5
Because that is its stable orbit. I’m not an expert but look at it like this:
Something gets pulled toward something else as it flies by. It turns back around because of the pull. It wants to get closer but is flung away again by its trajectory and speed not being broken by the gravitational pull. That keeps happening over and over. If the pull and trajectory/speed are in sync the orbit becomes stable and keeps the object locked in that orbit.
But it being perfect circle would be almost impossible because the objects meet instead of starting in a perfect setup to have perfect circle trajectory.
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