Heliocentric orbit
- ️Thu Feb 12 2009
Wikipedia
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A heliocentric orbit (also called circumsolar orbit) is an orbit around the Sun. All planets, comets, and asteroids in our Solar System are in such orbits, as are many artificial probes and pieces of debris. The moons of planets in the Solar System, by contrast, are not in heliocentric orbits as they orbit their respective planet. An interior heliocentric orbit is an orbit inside the orbit of the Earth, for example the orbit of Venus. An exterior heliocentric orbit is an orbit outside the orbit of the Earth, for example the orbit of Mars.
While it is convenient to think of orbits around the Sun, bodies in the Solar System do not actually orbit the Sun. Instead, all bodies in the Solar System (including the Sun) actually orbit the barycenter of the Solar System. A similar phenomenon allows the detection of extrasolar planets by way of the radial velocity method.
The helio- prefix is derived from the ancient Greek word helios, meaning "sun", and also Helios, the personification of the Sun in Greek mythology.[1]
See also
- Heliocentrism
- Geocentric orbit
- List of artificial objects in heliocentric orbit
- List of orbits
- Earth's orbit
References
- ^ "helio-". Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Random House. 2006. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/helio-. Retrieved 2009-02-12.
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heliocentric — adjective /ˌhiːliəʊˈsɛntrɪk,ˌhiːlioʊˈsɛntrɪk/ having the sun at the center/centre; usually in reference to a solar system or orbit Ant: geocentric … Wiktionary
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