Look what I have found, a planet with an orbital eccentricity of 0.97; it just barely missed the chance to be flung out of its orbit and become a rogue planet. 
Orbital Eccentricity!
- Thread starter Mephane
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Slingshot !
I bet summer is nice there
While not so eccentric, I've just found a curious planet in Antal space: Pegasi Sector GB-X C1-8 20. (Yes, 20 - the most planets I've ever seen in a system.)
15kLs out from its K0 sun, sharing a system with five other gas giants, orbital eccentricity 0.2609... and a 90.88° orbital inclination.
It won't hit the orbital plane for another 145 years. You can park up next to little gas giant, and the whole rest of the system fits neatly in your HUD
15kLs out from its K0 sun, sharing a system with five other gas giants, orbital eccentricity 0.2609... and a 90.88° orbital inclination.
It won't hit the orbital plane for another 145 years. You can park up next to little gas giant, and the whole rest of the system fits neatly in your HUD
The planets with the most eccentric orbits almost always seem to be the only planet orbiting their parent star. I tend to find them by noticing that their distance from me shown in the navigation side panel is different from what the system view is telling me to expect. Once I then select the body I can see roughly how eccentric it is by eye and head out to scan it and confirm the exact value.
A couple of days ago I came across a system where I only found out another way because the planet was at a point in its orbit such that the distance was similar to what I expected. It was a system with one star and one planet and I decided to scan the distant planet just from curiosity but noticed that the orbit line was unusual, as if I was inside a very narrow ellipse. I got quite a surprise when I saw the scan results:
The parent star is just inside the left edge of the ellipse.
For comparison, comet Hale-Bopp has an orbit with an eccentricity of about 0.995 and comet Halley's orbit has an eccentricity of about 0.967. These are very extreme worlds!
A couple of days ago I came across a system where I only found out another way because the planet was at a point in its orbit such that the distance was similar to what I expected. It was a system with one star and one planet and I decided to scan the distant planet just from curiosity but noticed that the orbit line was unusual, as if I was inside a very narrow ellipse. I got quite a surprise when I saw the scan results:
The parent star is just inside the left edge of the ellipse.
has anyone found these extreme cases with a gas giant with large moons orbiting it?
Great find. I'd imagine why they only form when they are the only planet is because they could not cross other planets orbits without interrupting the extremely eccentric orbit of their own.