What is the scientific term for the track a celestial body takes circling a larger mass?
Answer
orbit
The fundamental description for the trajectory taken by any celestial body as it circles a significantly larger mass, like a planet around a star, is universally termed an orbit. This path is established as a closed curve due to the precise balance between the object's inherent forward momentum and the continuous centripetal force exerted by the larger mass's gravity. For an object like a planet around the Sun, this path adheres strictly to the established laws governing motion within gravitational fields, resulting in a specific geometric shape, most commonly an ellipse. This term is the foundational concept differentiating the trajectory from the plane upon which that trajectory lies.
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