An ellipse is a bounded plane curve where the sum of the distances from two focal points is a constant. It has the following key parts: - Two focal points located inside the ellipse along its major axis - A center point at the intersection of its major and minor axes - Vertices that are the endpoints of its major axis - Covertices that are the endpoints of its minor axis The standard form of an ellipse's equation is (x-h)2/a2 + (y-k)2/b2 = 1, where a and b are the lengths of the semi-major and semi-minor axes.