Why are planetary orbits elliptical and not circular?
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Part of the answer is planets are not just orbiting the sun, but they’re orbiting each other, but that’s not the whole story.
Think of it as the planet is actually falling into the sun, it just doesn’t hit the sun because it’s moving in a direction that is not towards the sun as well (perpendicular to the line between the planet and the sun).
If you drop a planet from standstill, it will hit the sun. If you push a planet a little bit, it will fall towards the sun, but some of that push will be enough to cause it to miss the sun, even if by a little bit. If it misses the e sun, it will slingshot around and come back to its starting position (an elliptical orbit).
Now if you push a planet with the exact perfect force, it will orbit in a perfect circle. Anything more, or less than that, will form an ellipse.
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