Kepler's Laws of Planetary Motion

In astronomy, Kepler's laws of planetary motion are three scientific laws describing orbital motion, each giving a description of the motion of planets around the Sun.

Kepler's laws are:

  1. The orbit of every planet is an ellipse with the Sun at one of the two foci.
  2. A line joining a planet and the Sun sweeps out equal areas during equal intervals of time.
  3. The square of the orbital period of a planet is directly proportional to the cube of the semi-major axis of its orbit.

Read more about Kepler's Laws Of Planetary Motion:  History, First Law, Second Law, Third Law, Generality, Zero Eccentricity, Relation To Newton's Laws, Computing Position As A Function of Time, Computing The Planetary Acceleration, Newton's Law of Gravitation

Famous quotes containing the words laws, planetary and/or motion:

    Surely the fates are forever kind, though Nature’s laws are more immutable than any despot’s, yet to man’s daily life they rarely seem rigid, but permit him to relax with license in summer weather. He is not harshly reminded of the things he may not do.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

    We cannot cheat on DNA. We cannot get round photosynthesis. We cannot say I am not going to give a damn about phytoplankton. All these tiny mechanisms provide the preconditions of our planetary life. To say we do not care is to say in the most literal sense that “we choose death.”
    Barbara Ward (1914–1981)

    On board ship there are many sources of joy of which the land knows nothing. You may flirt and dance at sixty; and if you are awkward in the turn of a valse, you may put it down to the motion of the ship. You need wear no gloves, and may drink your soda-and-brandy without being ashamed of it.
    Anthony Trollope (1815–1882)