Conic Sections: Circles

Note that when c=0, the following two properties of ellipses occur:

  • The two foci are coincident at the ellipses center,
  • The eccentricity, e=c/a, becomes zero.

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Properties of zero eccentricity ellipses:

  • Ellipses with zero eccentricity are called Circles!
  • For circular orbits, the semimajor axis is simply the radius


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