An orbit is a path that one object in space follows around another object on a regular, repeated basis. A satellite is basically a spacecraft that is present in orbit. There are moons orbiting many planets. The International Space Station, for example, is a man-made satellite.
What Is the Form of an Orbit?
Orbits come in a variety of forms. The orbits of the planets are usually round. Comets’ orbits are shaped differently. They are “squashed,” or very odd, they resemble thin ellipses rather than circles.
Satellites orbiting the Earth, including the moon, do not always maintain the same distance from the planet. They are sometimes closer, and sometimes they are farther away. Perigee refers to a satellite’s closest approach to Earth. The apogee is the farthest point. Perihelion is the point in a planet’s orbit closest to the sun. Aphelion refers to the farthest point.
The Northern Hemisphere’s summer is when the Earth reaches its aphelion. The period of a satellite is the amount of time it takes to complete one full orbit. Earth, for example, has a one-year orbital period.
What Causes Objects to Stay in Orbit?
Without gravity, an Earth-orbiting satellite would go in a straight line into space.
If the object’s momentum is insufficient, it will be pushed down and crash. When these forces are equal, the item is always descending toward the planet, but it never strikes it because it is travelling sideways quickly enough. The speed required to stay in orbit is orbital velocity. The orbital velocity is around 17,000 miles per hour at a height of 150 miles (242 kilometres) above Earth. Higher orbiting satellites have slower orbital velocity.
