Glossary term: Orbita
Description: Un'orbita è il percorso di un oggetto in movimento in un sistema attorno al centro di massa di quel sistema, causato dalla forza gravitazionale reciproca tra gli oggetti del sistema. Per sistemi come il Sistema Solare, in cui il corpo centrale è molto più massiccio degli altri corpi, questo centro di massa si trova all'interno o vicino all'oggetto più massiccio (nel caso del Sistema Solare, il Sole). In un sistema stellare binario, il centro di massa delle stelle orbitanti si trova spesso tra le due stelle.
Le orbite sono in genere di forma ellittica, e il centro di massa del sistema é situato su un fuoco dell'ellisse. Le dimensioni e la forma dell'orbita sono definite dal semiasse maggiore e dall'eccentricità dell'ellisse. Le orbite più eccentriche hanno ellitticità più elevate. La maggior parte dei pianeti del Sistema Solare ha eccentricità orbitali molto vicine allo zero, ad esempio Venere (0,007) e la Terra (0,017), tranne Mercurio (0,206) e il pianeta nano Plutone (0,244).
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Term and definition status: The original definition of this term in English have been approved by a research astronomer and a teacher The translation of this term and its definition have been approved by a research astronomer and a teacher
The OAE Multilingual Glossary is a project of the IAU Office of Astronomy for Education (OAE) in collaboration with the IAU Office of Astronomy Outreach (OAO). The terms and definitions were chosen, written and reviewed by a collective effort from the OAE, the OAE Centers and Nodes, the OAE National Astronomy Education Coordinators (NAECs) and other volunteers. You can find a full list of credits here. All glossary terms and their definitions are released under a Creative Commons CC BY-4.0 license and should be credited to "IAU OAE".
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