ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Orbit period

Orbit period is how long it takes for something to travel around and around something else in space. Imagine you're playing with a toy car around a circular track. Every time your car completes one lap around the track, that's like one orbit. The amount of time it takes for your toy car to complete one lap is like the orbit period.

In space, planets like Earth and Mars travel around and around the Sun. The amount of time it takes for Earth to complete one orbit around the Sun is one year, which is about 365 days. The amount of time it takes for Mars to complete one orbit around the Sun is about 687 Earth days, or about 1.88 Earth years.

Even things like satellites can have orbit periods! Imagine a ball tied to a string that you're spinning around and around above your head. Every time the ball completes one circle around you, that's like one orbit. The amount of time it takes for the ball to complete one circle is like the orbit period. Satellites orbit around the Earth and can have different orbit periods depending on how high up they are and how fast they're traveling.

So in summary, orbit period is how long it takes for something to complete one lap around something else in space.