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Pathways to Astronomy

Stephen E. Schneider

Chapter 12

The Beginnings of Modern Astronomy - all with Video Answers

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Chapter Questions

01:48

Problem 1

All objects orbiting the Sun obey Kepler's laws. Suppose a comet is found with an orbital period of 64 years. If its orbit is circular, what is its distance from the Sun?

Narayan Hari
Narayan Hari
Numerade Educator
01:51

Problem 2

In $2003,$ astronomers discovered Sedna, an object in the outer Solar System with a semimajor axis of 526 AU. What is its orbital period?

Prashant Bana
Prashant Bana
Numerade Educator
03:58

Problem 3

Suppose an asteroid is discovered with an orbit that brings it as close as $0.5 \mathrm{AU}$ from the Sun and as far away as 1.5 AU. What is the semimajor axis of its orbit? What is its orbital period? What is the eccentricity of its orbit?

Ankur S
Ankur S
Numerade Educator
01:44

Problem 4

If a comet orbits the Sun and reaches 1 AU at its closest approach to the Sun, and its orbital period is 27 years, what is its maximum distance from the Sun?

Himanshu Kushwaha
Himanshu Kushwaha
Numerade Educator
02:52

Problem 5

For an asteroid in a circular orbit at $4 \mathrm{AU}$, calculate its orbital speed. Compare this to the speed of the Earth in its orbit of $29.8 \mathrm{km} / \mathrm{sec}$.

Andy Chen
Andy Chen
Numerade Educator
02:31

Problem 6

A comet is discovered with an orbit that extends from Venus's orbit to Neptune's orbit. Use Kepler's second law to estimate how many times faster the comet is moving when it is closest to the Sun compared to when it is farthest from the Sun. (Hint: The area swept out over a short period of time when the planet is at these two extremes can be approximated by a triangle, and the area of a triangle equals one-half of its base times its height.)

Keshav Singh
Keshav Singh
Numerade Educator