document.write( "Question 1142988: The orbit of Earth around the sun is in the shape of an ellipse where the sun is at one of the foci, and whose length of the major axis is 185.8 million miles. If the distance of the sun from the center of the orbit is 1.58 million miles, find the least and greatest distance of Earth from the sun. \n" ); document.write( "

Algebra.Com's Answer #763746 by rothauserc(4718) $\"\"$ $\"About$

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The semi-major axis a is half of the greatest width of the ellipse.
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\n" ); document.write( "a = 185.8/2 = 92.9 million miles
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\n" ); document.write( "Linear eccentricity c - is the distance from the focal point to the center of the ellipse
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\n" ); document.write( "c = 1.58 million miles
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\n" ); document.write( "Eccentricity of ellipse e is the ratio of the linear eccentricity c to the length of the semi-major axis a
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\n" ); document.write( "e = c/a = 1.58/92.9 = 0.017
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\n" ); document.write( "The greatest distance(Apogee) of Earth from the sun is
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\n" ); document.write( "A = a * (1+e) = 92.9 * 1.017 = 94.4793 is approximately 94.48 million miles
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\n" ); document.write( "The least distance(Perigee) of Earth from the sun is
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\n" ); document.write( "P = a * (1-e) = 92.9 * 0.983 = 91.3207 is approximately 91.32 million miles
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