If planets travel in elliptical orbits with the Sun at one focus, what happens at the other focus?

Nothing. The elliptical path of a planet around the Sun has the Sun located at one of the 2 foci of the ellipse. The second focus is located in the orbital plane of the planet, and is a point in space of geometric interest only. It is not a position where anything of dynamical interest is happening, and so far as the physics of the solar system is concerned is irrelevant.


Copyright 1997 Dr. Sten Odenwald
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