Mercury's Orbit

Mercury orbits the Sun in a noticeably eccentric orbit (e = 0.206), and it also rotates about 1.5 times faster than it orbits (note the red marker). Each Mercury day is two Mercury years, and Mercury's rotation follows the Sun when it is close, meaning that first one side gets baked there, then the other, then the first, then the second...

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Mercury
• rotation
• orbit
• resonance
• Sun

[lpetrich]

True, but they are very close to circular. To get a stereotypical elliptical shape, you need to look at an orbit with an eccentricity close to 1, like a comet's orbit.

[lpetrich]

Let us calculate how noncircular Mercury's orbit is. Its eccentricity e = 0.206, and its minor axis is sqrt(1-e^2) = 0.979 times its major axis, meaning that its vertical axis is only a few pixels shorter than its horizontal axis. So it's hard to see unless you measure it with an image editor.

[texx0101]

?????????? uh what's with all the weird commentz? i like cheeze!

[archangel11711]

this is wrong mecury changes orbit! into a petal motion

[automaticSOM]

Sorry but all planetary orbits in the solar system are elliptical

[roryfitzpatric]

Just no

[jrwinn17]

FAKE planetary orbits are ellipses not circles