| Term: | Eccentricity |
| Definition: |
The amount by which the orbit deviates from circularity: e = c/a, where c is the distance from the center to a focus and a the semi-major axis. If e = 0, the orbit is a circle. If e < 1, the orbit is an ellipse, if e > 1 it is a hyperbola, and if e = 1 it is a parabola. The eccentricity is one of the six orbital elements that define a Keplerian orbit. |