As the planet orbits the star, it makes a big circle (or ellipse) .

当行星围绕恒星运行时，它会形成大圆(或椭圆)。

Not only that, the Moon orbits the Earth on an ellipse.

不仅如此，月球绕地球公转的轨道椭圆形的。

It has two points, called foci, which act as a combined center for an ellipse.

它有，称为焦，作为椭圆的联合中心。

This ellipse has an important property called eccentricity.

椭圆有重要的性质，叫做离心率。

For one thing, it's not a perfect circle, it's quite an elongated ellipse.

至少不标准的圆形，而像拉长的椭圆。

The equation is a way to compare these axes to describe how squashed the ellipse is.

这方程比较这些轴来描述椭圆扁平度的种方式。

An ellipse with zero eccentricity would just be a regular old circle.

偏心率为零的椭圆普通的圆。

And b is the semi-minor axis, or half the distance along the short axis of the ellipse.

b 半短轴，或者说椭圆短轴的距离的半。

Remember too that the Moon's orbit around the Earth is an ellipse.

同样要记住的，月亮绕地球的公转轨道椭圆。

As Kepler showed, the earth's orbit is an ellipse, with the sun at one of the two focal points.

像开普勒曾指出的，地球的轨道椭圆，相对以太阳为中心绕起来的话有焦。

And as if they were cuboidal cells that got stretched tall, their nuclei also are stretched into an ellipse.

由于它们立方体细胞，被拉伸得很高，它们的细胞核也被拉伸成椭圆形。

As eccentricity increases, the ellipse gets flatter and flatter until it just looks like a line.

随着偏心率的增加，椭圆会变得越来越平，直到它看起来像条线。

An ellipse is an asymmetrically shaped closed oval.

任何椭圆都对称封闭的椭圆形。

Now, Newton predicted that the orbit of Mercury was an oval, or as scientists like to say " an ellipse."

牛顿预测的水星轨道椭圆的，或者用科学家惯用的词，“椭圆形”。

To those wondering what an extreme ellipse could be, there's a great example to look at Halley's Comet.

对于那些想知道什么极端椭圆的人来说，有很好的例子，那哈雷彗星。

Instead, they generally have a stretched version of a circle, which is technically called an ellipse.

相反，它们通常有圆形的拉伸公转，也椭圆。

Well, an ellipse is a shape that resembles a kind of squashed circle.

椭圆种类似于被压扁的圆的形状。

Weighing all the possibilities, the computer spits out the potential area of impact in the form of a landing ellipse.

权衡过所有的可能性，计算出可能的接触区域，椭圆形的着陆区。

Simply put, eccentricity tells how much the ellipse deviates from a perfect circle.

简单地说，离心率表示椭圆与正圆的偏离程度。

Its foci are two points within the ellipse that describe its shape.

它的焦椭圆内描述其形状的。