What is the name for a planet's path around the Sun?

A planet’s path around the Sun is called its orbit. An orbit is the curved route an astronomical body follows under gravity; for planets, the Sun’s gravity provides the dominant pull while the planet’s motion carries it forward.

Planetary orbits are usually elliptical rather than perfectly circular. Johannes Kepler established this pattern in the early 17th century from Tycho Brahe’s observations, and Isaac Newton later explained it through universal gravitation. Earth completes one orbit in about 365.25 days.

An orbit is not the same as an axis. A planet rotates around its axis, producing day and night, while it revolves around the Sun along its orbit, producing its year. “Equator” is the imaginary line around a planet, and a “meridian” is a reference line used in mapping and astronomy.

The planets’ orbital paths are also broadly aligned in a flattened region called the ecliptic plane, a leftover pattern from the rotating disk that formed the Solar System.