What is Kepler's laws?

There are three rules that help us understand how planets move around the Sun, these are called Kepler's laws.

Imagine you're on a swing at the park. When you push yourself harder, you go higher and faster. That’s kind of like what happens with planets. The first rule says that planets move in oval-shaped paths called ellipses, not perfect circles. So, just like your swing goes up and down in an arc, a planet goes around the Sun in a squashed circle.

The second rule is like when you're on a merry-go-round. If you sit closer to the center, you spin slower than someone who’s on the edge. Similarly, planets that are closer to the Sun move faster than ones that are farther away.

The third rule is like counting how many times you swing in a minute. It says that the longer it takes for a planet to go all the way around the Sun, the bigger its path must be, kind of like how a slower swing has a longer arc. So, if one planet takes 1 year to go around the Sun, and another takes 8 years, the second one is going on a much bigger oval! There are three rules that help us understand how planets move around the Sun, these are called Kepler's laws.

Imagine you're on a swing at the park. When you push yourself harder, you go higher and faster. That’s kind of like what happens with planets. The first rule says that planets move in oval-shaped paths called ellipses, not perfect circles. So, just like your swing goes up and down in an arc, a planet goes around the Sun in a squashed circle.