What is the orbit of the planet? Can a planet descend from orbit? What happens if the planet descends from orbit?

Do you know what an orbit of the planet is? Geography (Grade 6) gave us an idea of the structure of the solar system, but many certainly did not understand what it is, what it is needed for and what will happen if the planet changes its orbit.

Concept of an orbit

So, what is the orbit of the planet? The simplest definition is that the orbit is the path of the body around the Sun. Gravitation forces the cosmic body to move one by one
The same path around the star from year to year, from a million years into the next million. On average, the planets have an ellipsoidal orbit. The closer its shape is to a circle,
The more stable the weather conditions on the planet.

The main characteristics of the orbit are the period of revolution and the radius. The mean radius is the average value between the minimum value of the orbit diameter and
The maximum. The period of circulation is that period of time that is necessary for the celestial body in order to completely fly around the star.
The distance separating the star and the planet, the greater the period of revolution, since the impact of the star's gravity on the outskirts of the system is much weaker than at its center.

Since no orbit can be absolutely circular, during the planetary year the planet is at a different distance from the star. Place, where
The planet is nearest to the star, it is customary to call it a periastron. The point, the farthest from the star, on the contrary, is called the apostle. For the solar system, this is
Perihelion and aphelion, respectively.

Orbital elements

What is the orbit of the planet, it is understandable. What are its elements? There are several elements that are usually allocated near the orbit. It is for these parameters that scientists determine the form of the orbit, the characteristics of the motion of the planet and some other parameters that are unimportant for the average person.

• Eccentricity. This is an indicator that helps to understand how far the orbit of the planet is stretched. The lower the eccentricity, the more rounded the shape of the orbit, while the celestial body with high eccentricity moves around the star along a strongly elongated ellipse. The planets of the solar system have extremely low eccentricities, which indicates their practically circular orbits. For comets, unusually high eccentricities are characteristic.
• The semimajor axis. It is calculated from the planet to the averaged point half way along the orbit. This is not synonymous with apastron, since the star is not in the center of the orbit, but in one of its foci.
• Mood. For these calculations, the orbit of the planet is a certain plane. The second parameter is the base plane, that is, the orbit of a particular body in the stellar system or taken conventionally. So in the solar system the base is considered the Earth's orbit, it is usually called the ecliptic. For planets of other stars, it is customary to consider that plane lying on the observer's line from the Earth. In our system, almost all orbits are located in the plane of the ecliptic. However, comets and some other bodies move at a high angle to it.

Orbits of the solar system

So, turning around a star is what is called the orbit of the planet. In our solar system, the orbits of all the planets are directed in the same direction in which
The Sun rotates. This movement is explained by the theory of the origin of the universe: after the Big Bang pratoplasma moved in one direction, substances with the course
Time were condensed, but their movement did not change.

Around the own axis of the planet move like the rotation of the sun. The only exceptions to this are Venus and Uranus, which rotate around their axis in
Its own unique mode. Perhaps once they were exposed to celestial bodies, which changed the direction of their circulation around their axis.

Plane of motion in the solar system

As already mentioned, the orbits of the planets in the solar system are almost on one plane, close to the plane of the Earth's orbit. Knowing what the orbit of a planet is,
We can assume that the reason why the planets move in practically the same plane is most likely the same: once the substance from which now
Consist of all the bodies in the solar system, was a single cloud and rotated around its axis under the influence of external gravity. Over time, the substance
Divided into the one from which the Sun formed, and the one that for a long time was a dusty disk revolving around the luminary. The dust gradually formed
Planets, and the direction of rotation remains the same.

Orbits of other planets

It's hard to argue on this topic. The fact is that we know what the orbit of the planet is, but until recently we did not know if there were any planets in other stars at all.
Only recently, using the latest equipment and modern methods of observation, scientists were able to calculate the presence of planets from other stars. Such planets are called
Exoplanets. Despite the incredible power of modern equipment, only a few exoplanets were captured or seen, and the observation of them surprised
Scientists.

The fact is that these few planets seem to be completely unfamiliar with what an orbit of the planet is. Geography asserts that all bodies are moving along the eternal
Laws. But it seems that the laws of our system do not work for other stars. There, close to the star were such planets, which, it seemed scientists, can
Exist only on the outskirts of the system. And these planets behave differently than they should behave according to the calculations: they also rotate in the wrong direction
The side that their star, and their orbits lie in different planes and have too elongated orbits.

Sudden stop of the planet

Strictly speaking, the sudden, unrelated stopping of the Earth's rotation is simply unreal. But let's say that it happened.

Despite stopping the whole body, its individual elements will not be able to stop too. So, the magma and the core will continue their movement by inertia. Until full
Stop the whole filling of the earth will have time to turn many times, completely breaking the Earth's crust. This will cause an instant release of a huge amount of lava, the huge
Faults and the emergence of volcanoes in extremely unexpected places. Thus, almost instantly on Earth, life will cease to exist.

In addition, even if you can stop instantly and "stuffing", there is still an atmosphere. It will continue the inertial rotation. And this speed is about 500 m / s.
Such a "breeze" will sweep away all the living and inanimate from the surface, carrying with the atmosphere itself to the Cosmos.

Gradual stop of rotation

If the rotation around its axis ceases not suddenly, but for a long time, there is a minimal chance to survive. As a result of disappearance
Centrifugal force, the oceans will rush to the poles, while the land will be at the equator. In this situation, the day will be equal to the year, and the change of the seasons will correspond to the time of day: morning - spring, day - summer, etc. The temperature regime will be much more extreme, since neither the oceans nor the movement of the atmosphere will soften it.

What happens if the Earth descends from the orbit?

Another fantasy: what happens if the planet descends from orbit? Just move to another orbit the planet can not. So, it helped to make this encounter with another heavenly body. In this case, a huge explosion will destroy everything and everyone.

If we assume that the planet simply stopped in space, stopping movement around the Sun, the following will happen. Under the influence of the Sun, our planet will go to it. Catch up with it, she can not, because the sun, too, does not stand in one place. But it will fly by close enough from the sun, so that the solar wind destroys the atmosphere, evaporates all moisture and burns all the land. An empty burnt ball will fly further. Having reached the orbits of the distant planets, the Earth will affect their movement. Once near the giant planets, the Earth is likely to be torn into small pieces.

Such are the scenarios of probable events when the Earth stops. However, scientists on the question "can a planet go off the orbit" answer unequivocally: no. It is more or less
Less successfully existed more than 4.5 billion years, and in the foreseeable future there is nothing that could prevent it from surviving as much as ...