Which space object has the most eccentric orbit?

Eccentricity is a measure of how an orbit deviates from circular. A perfectly circular orbit has an eccentricity of zero; higher numbers indicate more elliptical orbits.

Neptune, Venus, and Earth are the planets in our solar system with the least eccentric orbits.

Pluto's orbit is more oval-shaped, or elliptical, than those of the planets. In addition to having a very distant orbit around the Sun (and hence a very long orbital period) it also has the most eccentric orbit of any planet or minor planet in the Solar System. This makes for a rather long year on Pluto, which lasts the equivalent of 248 Earth years.

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20 Comments

Chris Brown

Actua.lly, it is noine of thwsw. It is Mercury. I looked to see how eccentric it is and found that ...= Mercury has a more eccentric orbit than any other planet, taking it to 0.467 AU from the Sun at aphelion but only 0.307 AU at perihelion

Barb Schmidt

there is a irony that disproves what started in 18... but wont bother to point out. with also the missing pluto as as was a planet but not... so now object. have a good day/night, and have fun downvoting away.

Howard Groopman

26.4% think the sun has an orbit.

David Smith

Joy Holbrook, All Stars orbit the centre of our galaxy.

Dennis Walker

teacherchicky, yes, excepting that sun is not a planet 😬

Dennis Walker

Nothing wrong with the answer because Mercury was not offered as a choice! The only thing wrong is the question itself. should have read, “of the following space objects which has the most eccentric orbit?”

timwhitestevens

Comets have the most eccentric orbit.

Silvia Levame

Mercury has the most eccentric orbit of any planet in the Solar System123. Its eccentricity is 0.2056, which is sufficient for Mercury to receive twice as much solar irradiation at perihelion compared to aphelion. Before its demotion from planet status in 2006, Pluto was considered to be the planet with the most eccentric orbit (e = 0.248)1.