4 ms·
> before they get pulled back into the atmosphere by gravity. Irrelevant to the point, but: It's more that they get pulled further down into atmosphere by... a
by MauranKilom 5y ago
> before they get pulled back into the atmosphere by gravity.
Irrelevant to the point, but: It's more that they get pulled further down into atmosphere by... atmosphere. With just gravity alone, they'd stay perfectly in orbit.
- smallerfish 5y agoFair point, thanks. :)
- chihuahua 5y agoI think they get pulled down by the combination of atmosphere and gravity. As you pointed out, gravity alone is not sufficient. But also, if there's only an atmosphere but no gravity, they don't get pulled down.
- BenjiWiebe 5y agoIf there's no gravity, they don't orbit. If they orbit with gravity but with no atmosphere, they stay orbiting indefinitely.
- bigcheesegs 5y ago> they stay orbiting indefinitely Not quite true. For example quite a few orbits around the moon are unstable and you will end up crashing into the surface. This is due to essentially all celestial objects not being spherical.