Q.State Kepler's laws of planetary motion.
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Start your 14-day free trial to unlock the full solution →Kepler's three laws: (1) planets move in ellipses with the Sun at a focus; (2) the Sun-planet line sweeps equal areas in equal times; (3) .
First law (Law of orbits). Every planet revolves around the Sun in an elliptical orbit, with the Sun located at one of the two foci of the ellipse. A circle is only the special case of an ellipse in which the two foci coincide.
Second law (Law of areas). The straight line joining the Sun and a planet (the radius vector) sweeps out equal areas in equal intervals of time. Hence the areal velocity of the planet is constant:
This means a planet moves faster when it is nearer the Sun (at perihelion) and slower when it is farther away (at aphelion). The law is a direct consequence of the conservation of angular momentum, because the gravitational force is central.
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