Final answer:
Kepler's Laws of planetary motion imply that planets orbit in ellipses, not circles, which makes option (d) the correct answer as it suggests that orbits are close to circular, which is not implied by Kepler's laws.
Step-by-step explanation:
The question refers to which statement is NOT implied by Kepler's Laws of planetary motion. Let's review each option against Kepler's three laws:
- (a) Uranus should take less time to orbit the Sun than Neptune does. This is implied by Kepler's third law - Neptune being farther from the Sun than Uranus takes longer to orbit the Sun.
- (b) The orbit of Earth should be an ellipse. This is directly stated in Kepler's first law.
- (c) Mercury moves fastest in its orbit when it is closest to the Sun. This is a consequence of Kepler's second law, which indicates that a planet sweeps out equal areas in equal times - thus it must move faster when it is closer to the Sun (at its perihelion).
- (d) Planetary orbits are all close to circular. This is NOT implied by Kepler's laws as they specifically state that orbits are elliptical, not circular.
- (e) Each planet orbits with the Sun at one focus of its orbit. This statement is Kepler's first law.
Therefore, the statement that is NOT implied by Kepler's Laws is option (d), that planetary orbits are all close to circular.