Orbit artist, model critic
20 minutes · Paper · Pencil · A round lid for tracing, optional
Your investigation
- Draw one circle-like orbit and one very stretched oval. Put a pretend Sun near the center of the circle and off-center inside the oval.
- Draw arrows to show a traveler’s direction and label each line as a guide, not a physical rail.
- Write two limitations of your model, including that most planetary orbits are only mildly oval.
- Add a sentence about gravity bending a moving object’s path.
Think, draw, explain
Are real orbit lines glowing tracks in space?
Does an orbiting planet need a road beneath it?
Grown-up guide & possible answers
- No. Lines in an explorer or drawing are visual aids showing a path.
- No. Gravity and the object’s motion produce an orbit. A drawing simplifies three-dimensional positions and should not be mistaken for a physical structure.