Orbit

(or'bit.) [From L. orbita, the track made by a chariot-wheel.] (Anat.) The two cavities under the forehead in which the eyes are situated, are termed orbits; and these organs are set in bony sockets.(Ast.) The path of a planet or comet in its course round the sun; thus the earth's O. is the curve which it describes in its annual revolution, and which is usually termed the ecliptic. Modern astronomers have ascertained that the O. of every planet is an ellipse, having the sun in one of its foci; and that their motions in these ellipses are such, that a radius drawn from the centre of the sun to the centre of the planet always describes equal areas in equal times. The O. of satellites, also, are E. [s. 666]