Question

The picture below represents a planet (blue) orbiting star. This particular planet has a highly elliptical orbit, as shown . At what point in the orbit is the planet moving fastest?

• A. $1$
• B. $2$
• C. $3$
• D. $4$
• E. We cannot determine where the planet is moving fastest. since Kepler's Laws apply only to planets in our solar syatem

Answer 1

The correct option is D $4$

According to Kepler's second law, the speed of the planet varies with the distance from the sun. When the planet is closer to the sun it experiences higher gravitational pull and is faster. Hence, the planet will be fastest at position 4.