Chapter II:

Measurements, Laws and

Existing Data in Astronomy

Measurements in astronomy

•Scientific Notation

Measurements in astronomy

• In astronomy (and other sciences), it is often necessary to deal with very large or very small numbers.
In fact, when numbers become truly large in everyday life, such as the national debt in the United
States, we call them astronomical.

Measurements in astronomy

• Scientific Notation

• Among the ideas astronomers must routinely deal with is that the Earth is 150,000,000,000 meters
from the Sun, and the mass of the hydrogen atom is 0.00000000000000000000000000167 kilograms.
No one in his or her right mind would want to continue writing so many zeros!

Measurements in astronomy

• Scientific Notation

• Instead, scientists have agreed on a kind of shorthand notation, which is not only easier to write, but
makes multiplication and division of large and small numbers much less difficult.

SCIENTIFIC NOTATION

4500000 = 4.5 x 109

Exponent Coefficient Base

0.00453 = 4.53 x 10-3-

Measurements in astronomy

•Writing Large Numbers

Measurements in astronomy

• Writing Large Numbers

• In scientific notation, we generally agree to have only one number to the left of the decimal point. If a
number is not in this format, it must be changed.

Measurements in astronomy

• Writing Large Numbers

• The number 6 is already in the right format, because for integers, we understand there to be a decimal
point to the right of them. So 6 is really 6., and there is indeed only one number to the left of the
decimal point.

Measurements in astronomy

•Writing Large Numbers

•But the number 965 (which is 965.) has three numbers to the left of the decimal point, and is thus ripe
for conversion.

Measurements in astronomy

• Writing Large Numbers

• To change 965 to proper form, we must make it 9.65 and then keep track of the change we have
made. We keep track of the number of places we moved the decimal point by expressing it as a power
of ten.

Measurements in astronomy

• Writing Large Numbers

• So 965 becomes 9.65 × 102 or 9.65 multiplied by ten to the second power.

The small raised 2 is called an exponent, and it tells us how many times we moved the decimal point to
the left.
Measurements in astronomy

• Writing Large Numbers

• So a number like 1,372,568 becomes

1.372568 times a million (106) or 1.372568 times 10 multiplied by itself 6 times. We had to move the
decimal point six places to the left to get the number into the form where there is only one digit to the
left of the decimal point.

Measurements in astronomy

• Writing Large Numbers

• The reason we call this powers-of-ten notation is that our counting system is based on increases of
ten; each place in our numbering system is ten times greater than the place to the right of it.

Measurements in astronomy

• Writing Large Numbers

• So, in the example, the number of meters from Earth to the Sun is 1.5 × 1011.

Elsewhere in the book, we mention that a string 1 light-year long would fit around

Earth’s equator 236 million or

236,000,000 times.

Measurements in astronomy

• Writing Large Numbers

• In scientific notation, this would become 2.36

× 108. Now if you like expressing things in millions, as the annual reports of successful companies do,
you might like to write this number as 236 × 106. However, the usual convention is to have only one
number to the left of the decimal point.

Measurements in astronomy

•Writing Small

Numbers
Measurements in astronomy

• Writing Small Numbers

• Now take a number like 0.00347, which is also not in the standard (agreed-to) form for scientific
notation. To put it into that format, we must make the first part of it

3.47 by moving the decimal point three places to the right.

Measurements in astronomy

• Writing Small Numbers

• Note that this motion to the right is the opposite of the motion to the left that we discussed above. To
keep track, we call this change negative and put a minus sign in the exponent. Thus 0.00347 becomes
3.47 × 10−3

Measurements in astronomy

• Writing Small Numbers

• In the example we gave at the beginning, the mass of the hydrogen atom would then be written as
1.67 × 10−27 kg. In this system, one is written as 100, a tenth as 10−1

, a hundredth as 10−2

, and so on. Note that any number, no matter how large or how small, can be expressed in scientific
notation.

Measurements in astronomy

•Multiplication and Division

Measurements in astronomy

• Multiplication and Division

• Scientific notation is not only compact and convenient, it also simplifies arithmetic. To multiply two
numbers expressed as powers of ten, you need only multiply the numbers out front and then add the
exponents.

Measurements in astronomy
• Multiplication and Division

• If there are no numbers out front, as in 100 ×

100,000, then you just add the exponents (in our notation, 102 × 105 = 107). When there are numbers
out front, you have to multiply them, but they are much easier to deal with than numbers with many
zeros in them.

Here's an example:

(3 x 10) x (2 × 109) = 6 × 1014

And here's another example:

0.04 × 6,000,000 = (4 × 10-2) x (6 x 10°)

= 24 x 104

= 2.4 x 105

[Link]

Measurements in astronomy

•Multiplication and Division

•To divide, you divide the numbers out front and subtract the exponents.

1,000,000 106 =10(6-3) 1000 = 103 103

9×1012 = 4.5 x 109 2x103

2.8x102 0.452 ×X 103 = 4.52 x 10-4 6.2x105

[Link]

Measurements in astronomy

• EXERCISES

• During the first six years of its operation, the Hubble Space

Telescope circled Earth 37,000 times, for a total of 1,280,000,000 km. Use scientific notation to find the
number of km in one orbit.
During the firste six -years of its operation, the Hubble Spасe

Telescope circled Earth 37,000 times, for a total of 1,280,000,000 km. Вве scientific notation to find the
rumber of km in one orbit.

1.28x10 km 0.346 x 10(94) = 0.346 x 10 =3.465x 10 km per orbit.3.7x10 orbits

[Link]

Measurements in astronomy

• EXERCISES

• 5. In the school year 2009–2010,

American colleges and universities awarded 2,354,678 degrees. Among these were 48,069 PhD degrees.
What fraction of the degrees were PhDs?

Express this number as a percent. [Link] the school year 2009-2010 American colleges and universities
awarded 2,354,678 degrees. Among these were 48,069 PhD degrees. fraction of the degrees were

Express this number as a percent.

What

PhDs

4.81x104

= 2.05 x 10(4-6) = 2.05 × 10-2 = about2% . (Note that in these examples we are rounding off some of the
2.35x10 numbers so that we don't have more than 2 places after the decimal point.)

Some Useful

Constants for

Astronomy

Physical Constants

Name

speed of light (c)

gravitational constant (G)

Planck's constant (h)

mass of a hydrogen atom (МH)

mass of an electron (M)

Rydberg constant (Ro)

Stefan-Boltzmann constant (o)

Wien's law constant (AmaxT)

electron volt (energy) (eV)

energy equivalent of 1 ton TNT

Value

2.9979 × 108 m/s

6.674 x 10-11 m³/(kg s2)

6.626 × 10-34 J-S

1.673 x 10-27 kg

9.109 x 10-31 kg

1.0974 x 10 m-1

5.670 x 10-8 J/(s-m² deg4)[1]

2.898 x 10-3 m K

1.602 x 10-19 J

4.2 x 109 J

[Link]

Astronomical Constants
Name

astronomical unit (AU)

Light-year (ly)

parsec (pc)

sidereal year (y)

mass of Earth (REarth)

equatorial radius of Earth

obliquity of ecliptic

escape velocity of Earth (VEarth)

mass of Sun (Msun)

equatorial radius of Sun (Rsun)

luminosity of Sun (LSun)

solar constant (flux of energy received at Earth) (S)

Hubble constant (H)

Value

1.496 x 1011 m

9.461 x 1015 m

3.086 x 1016 m = 3.262 light-years

3.156 x 107 s

5.974 x 1024 kg

6.378 x 106 m

23.4° 26'
1.119 x 104 m/s

1.989 x 1030 kg

6.960 × 108 m

3.85 x 1026 W

1.368 x 103 W/m²

approximately 20 km/s per million light-years, or approximately 70 km/s per megaparsec

Physical and Orbital Data for the Planets

Mean Mean Major Mean Diameter Mass Rotation Inclination of Surface Gravity Diameter Planet (Earth =
1) (Earth = 1) (km)

Density

(g/cm³) Period (d) Equator to Orbit (°) (Earth = 1[g](

Velocity of

Escape (km/s)

Mercury 4879 0.38 0.055 5.43 58. 0.0 0.38 4.3

Venus 12,104 0.95 0.815 5.24 -243. 177 0.90 10.4

Earth 12,756 1.00 1.00 5.51 1.000 23.4 1.00 11.2

Mars 6779 0.53 0.11 3.93 1.026 25.2 0.38 5.0

Jupiter 140,000 10.9 318 1.33 0.414 3.1 2.53 60.

Saturn 117,000 9.13 95.2 0.69 0.440 26.7 1.07 36.

Uranus 50,700 3.98 14.5 1.27 -0.718 97.9 0.89 21.

Neptune 49,200 3.86 17.2 1.64 0.671 29.6 1.14 23.

[Link]

Physical Data for Well-Studied Dwarf Planets

Mean Well-Studied Diameter Diameter Mass Rotation Inclination of Surface Gravity Density Dwarf
Planet (km) (Earth = 1) (Earth = 1) Period (d) (g/cm³) Equator to Orbit (°) (Earth = 1[g])

Velocity of

Escape (km/s)

Ceres 950 0.07 0.0002 22 0.378 3 0.03 0.5

Pluto 2470 0.18 0.0024 1.9 -6.387 122 0.06 1.3

Haumea 1700 0.13 0.0007 3 0.163 0.8

Makemake 1400 0.11 0.0005 2 0.321 0.8

Eris 2326 0.18 0.0028 2.5 1.251 1.4

Orbital Data for the Major Planets

Major Semimajor Axis

Planet (AU)

Semimajor Axis

(106 km)

Sidereal

Period (y)

Sidereal

Period (d)

Mean Orbital

Speed (km/s)

Orbital Inclination of Orbit to Eccentricity Ecliptic (°)

Mercury 0.39 58 0.24 88.0 47.9 0.206 7.0

Venus 0.72 108 0.6 224.7 35.0 0.007 3.4

Earth 1.00 149 1.00 365.2 29.8 0.017 0.0

Mars 1.52 228 1.88 687.0 24.1 0.093 1.9

Jupiter 5.20 778 11.86 13.1 0.048 1.3

Saturn 9.54 1427 29.46 9.6 0.056 2.5

Uranus 19.19 2871 84.01 6.8 0.046 0.8

Neptune 30.06 4497 164.82 5.4 0.010 1.8

Orbital Data for Well-Studied Dwarf Planets

Mean Orbital Speed

Well-Studied Dwarf Semimajor Axis

Planet (AU)

Semimajor Axis (106km)

Sidereal Period Orbital Inclination of Orbit to

(y) Eccentricity Ecliptic (°) (km/s)

Ceres 2.77 414.0 4.6 18 0.08 11

Pluto 39.5 5915 248.6 4.7 0.25 17

Haumea 43.1 6452 283.3 4.5 0.19 28

make 45.8 6850 309.9 4.4 0.16 29

Eris 68.0 10,120 560.9 3.4 0.44 44

[Link]

The Brightest Twenty Stars

• Note: These are the stars that appear the brightest visually, as seen from our vantage point on

Earth. They are not necessarily the stars that are intrinsically the most luminous.
The Brightest Twenty Stars

• The distances of the more remote stars are estimated from their spectral types and apparent
brightnesses and are only approximate. The luminosities for those stars are approximate to the same
degree. Right ascension and declination is given for Epoch 2000.0.

The Brightest Twenty Stars

Name Proper

Motion

(arcsec/y)

Right

Ascension

Declination

Traditional Bayer Luminosity

(Sun =1)

Distance

(lightyears)

Spectral Typе RA Dec (h) (m) (deg) (min)

Sirius a Canis

Majoris

22.5 8.6 A1 V -0.5 -1.2 06 45.2 -16 43

Canopus a Caarinae 13,5ОО 309 FO II +0.02 +0.02 06 24.0 -52 42

Rigil

Kentaurus

Arcturus
Vega

Capella

a Centauri 1.94 4.32 G2 V + KIV -3.7 +0.5 14 39.7 -60 50

a Bootis 120 36.72 K1.5 -1.1 -2.0 14 15.7 +19 11

a Lyrae 49 25.04 A0 V +0.2 +0.3 18 36.9 +38 47

a Aurigae 140 42.8О G8 III + GO III +0.08 -0.4 05 16.7 +46 00

Rigel B Orionis 50.600 863 B8 I +0.00 +0.00 05 14.5 -08 12

Procyon a Canis

Minoris

7.31 11.46 F5 IV-V -0.7 -1.0 07 39.3 +05 14

Achernar a Eridani 1030 139 B3 V +0.1O -0.04 01 37.7 -57 14

Betelgeuse a Orionis 13,200 498 M2 I +0.02 +0.01 05 55.2 +07 24

Hadar B Centauri 7050 392 B1 II -0.03 -0.02 14 03.8 -60 22

Altair a Aquilae 11.2 16.73 A7 V +0.5 +0.4 19 50.8 +08 52

Acrux α Crucis 4090 322 B0.5 V + -0.04 -0.01 12 26.6 -63 06

B1V

Aldebaran α Tauri 160 66.64 K5 II +0.1 -0.2 04 35.9 +16 31

Spica a Virginis 2030 250 B1 III-IV

B2 V

+ -0.04 -0.03 13 25.2 -11 10

Antares a Scorpii 9290 554 M1.51+

B2.5 V
-0.01 -0.02 16 29.4 -26 26

Pollux B Geminorum 31.6 33.78 KO III -0.6 -0.05 07 45.3 +28 02

Fomalhaut a Piscis

Austrini

17.2 25.13 A3 V +0.03 -0.2 22 57.6 -29 37

Mimosa

Deneb

B Crucis 1980 279 B0.5 -0.04 -0.02 12 47.7 -59 41

a Cygni 50,600 1412 A2 I +0.00 +0.00 20 41.4 +45 17 [Link]

•The

Constellations

Andromeda Andromedae Princess of Ethiopia

Antila Antilae Air pump

Apus Apodis Bird of Paradise

Aquarius Aquarii Water bearer

Aquila Aquilae Eagle

Ara Arae Altar

Aries Arietis Ram

Auriga Aurigaе Charioteer

Boötes Boötis Herdsman

Caelum Cael Graving tool

Constellation (Latin
name)

Genitive Case

Ending English Name or Description

[Link]

Camelopardus

Cancer

Canes Venatici

Canis Major

Canis Minor

Capricornus

Carina[1]

Cassiopeia

Centaurus

Cepheus

Cetus

Camelopardis

Cancri

Canum Venaticorum

Canis Majoris

Canis Minoris

Capricorni

Carinae
Cassiopeiae

Centauri

Cephei

Ceti

Giraffe

Crab

Hunting dogs

Big dog

Little dog

Sea goat

Keel of Argonauts' ship

Queen of Ethiopia

Centaur

King of Ethiopia

Sea monster (whale)

Constellation (Latin

name)

Genitive Case

Ending English Name or Description

[Link]

Chamaeleon Chamaeleontis Chameleon

Circinus Circini Compasses

Columba Columbae Dove

Coma Berenices Comae Berenices Berenice's hair

Corona Australis Coronae Australis Southern crown

Corona Borealis Coronae Borealis Northern crown

Corvus

Crater

Crux

Cygnus

Delphinus

Corvi

Crateris

Crucis

Cygni

Delphini

Crow

Cup

Cross (southern)

Swan

Porpoise

Constellation (Latin

name)

Genitive Case
Ending English Name or Description

Dorado Doradus Swordfish

Draco Draconis Dragon

Equuleus Equulei

Eridanus

Fornax

Gemini

GruS

Hercules

Horologium

Hydra

Hydrus

Indus

Lacerta

Eridani

Fornacis

Geminorum

Gruis

Herculis

Horologii

Hydrae

Hydri
Indi

Lacertae

Little horse

River

Furnace

Twins

Crane

Hercules, son of Zeus

Clock

Sea serpent

Water snake

Indian

Lizard

Constellation (Latin

name)

Genitive Case

Ending English Name or Description

[Link]

Lupi

Leo

Leo Minor

Lepus
Libra

Lupus

Lynx

Lyra

Leonis

Leonis Minoris

Leporis

Lion

Little lion

Hare

Librae Balance

Wolf

Lyncis Lynx

Lyrae

Mensa Mensae

Microscopium Microscopiї

MonoceroS Monocerotis

Lyre or harр

Table Mountain

Microscope

Unicorn

Muscа Muscae Fly

Constellation (Latin name)

Genitive Case

Ending English Name or Description

Norma

Octans

Normae Carpenter's level

Octantis Octant

Ophiuchus Ophiuchi Holder of serpent

Orion Orionis Orion, the hunter

Pavo Pavonis Peacock

Pegasus Pegasi Pegasus, the winged horse

Perseus Persei Perseus, hero who saved

Andromeda

Phoenix Phoenicis Phoenix

Pictor

Pisces

Pictoris Easel

Piscium Fishes

Piscis AustrinuS Piscis Austrini Southern fish

Constellation (Latin name)

Genitive Case

Ending English Name or Description

Puppis[2] Puppis

Pyxis[3] (=Malus) Pyxidus

Reticulum Reticuli

Sagitta Sagittae

Sagittarius

Scorpius

Sculptor

Scutum

Serpens

Sextans

Taurus

Sagittarii

Scorpii

Sculptoris

Scuti

Serpentis

Sextantis

Tauri

Stern of the Argonauts' ship

Compass of the Argonauts' ship

Net

Arrow
Archer

Scorpion

Sculptor's tools

Shield

Serpent

Sextant

Bull

Constellation (Latin

name)

Genitive Case

Ending English Name or Description

[Link]

Telescopium

Triangulum

Triangulum Australe

Tucana

Ursa Major

Ursa Minor

Vela[4]

Virgo

Volans

Vulpecula
Telescоріi

Trianguli

Trianguli Australis

Tucanae

Ursae Majoris

Ursae Minoris

Velorum

Virginis

Volantis

Vulpeculae

Telescope

Triangle

Southern triangle

Toucan

Big bear

Little bear

Sail of the Argonauts' ship

Virgin

Flying fish

Fox

Constellation (Latin name)

Genitive Case
Ending English Name or Description

[Link]

MEASURING

DISTANCES IN

ASTRONOMY

MEASURING DISTANCES IN

ASTRONOMY

•Measuring distance is one of the key facets of astronomical work.

MEASURING DISTANCES IN

ASTRONOMY

•It allows us to gauge the relative brightness of events,

•allows us to understand the scale of the solar system, our galaxy and the wider universe

Radar ranging within solar system

Parallax method for nearby stars

Comparing brightness and colour of stars within Milky Way

Comparing Cepheid variable pulse rate and brightness in hearby galaxies

Comparing brightness of supernovae more distant galaxy clusters

Using dopplershift and Hubble's law

10-6 10-4 10-2 100 102 →104 106 108 1010

Distances in lightyears

MEASURING DISTANCES IN

ASTRONOMY
• Astronomers use a number of different units of measurement, depending on the application. The
metre is the standard "Earth bound" unit of length but these and kilometres are too small to avoid using
huge numbers which are hard to understand.

•THE ASTRONOMICAL

UNIT

THE ASTRONOMICAL UNIT

•It is defined as the average distance from the Earth to the Sun. Since this varies significantly there is

International agreement that

• 1 AU = 149,597,870,691 ± 30 metres

1 AU

1 AU

[Link]

THE PARSEC

•The Parsec is a unit very commonly used by astronomers and derived from the AU. It is based upon the
parallax method of measuring distances.

THE PARSEC

•The change of the angle of observation of a star is measured against a background of other stars at
some time in the year and then again six months later.

THE PARSEC

•In that time the Earth will be 2AU from itsʼ starting point. If, from the geometry, the angle marked in
blue is 1 second (that is 1/3600 of a degree) then the distance to the star is one parsec.

THE PARSEC

THE PARSEC

•One second of a degree is 1/60 of a minute of a degree which is 1/60 of a degree. There are 3,600
seconds in one degree and
1,296,000 in a whole circle.

THE PARSEC

A LIGHT YEAR

•The “Light Year” is the most commonly quoted distance measurement, although maybe not amongst
astronomers.

A LIGHT YEAR

•It is simply the distance that light would travel in one year. This definition requires a precise definition
of one year, in this case a Julian year which is 365.25 days exactly.

A LIGHT YEAR

•The light year is then

31,557,600 seconds multiplied by the speed of light at

299,792,458 m/s which gives

9,460,730,472,580.8 kilometres. takes just over 1 second for light

A LIGHT YEAR

•takes just over 1 second for light to travel between the Earth and the Moon

A LIGHT YEAR

•In a terrestrial setting the speed of light is phenomenally fast. Even to the Moon light travels in a little
over a second and out of the planetary solar system in a few hours.

A LIGHT YEAR

•It takes light about 8 minutes to travel from the Sun to the Earth and about 4 hours to get as far as
Neptune

Mercury

Venus
Earth

Mars

Jupiter

Saturn

Uranus

Neptune

A LIGHT YEAR

•For large distances, for example across our galaxy, even light years give us a big number. Between
galaxies the distances are such the we use units of millions or even billions of light years or parsecs.

Approximately 100,000 light years

30,000 parsecs

Units for Distance and Size in the

Universe

•Astronomical Units:

•It is the average distance between the Earth and the

Sun: 1 AU = 1.496 x 108 km

= 93 million miles

Units for Distance and Size in the

Universe

• Astronomical Units:

• Jupiter is about 5.2 AU from the Sun and Pluto is about 39.5 AU from the

Sun. The distance from the Sun to the center of the Milky Way is approximately

1.7 x 109 AU.

Units for Distance and Size in the Universe

•Light-Years:

•To measure the distances between stars, astronomers often use light-years

(abbreviated ly).

Units for Distance and Size in the

Universe

•Light-Years:

•A light-year is the distance that light travels in a vacuum in one year:

• 1 ly = 9.5 x 1012 km = 63,240 AU

Units for Distance and Size in the

Universe

•Light-Years:

•Proxima Centauri is the nearest star to Earth (other than the Sun) and is

4.2 light-years away. This means light from Proxima Centauri takes

4.2 years to travel to Earth.

Units for Distance and Size in the

Universe

•Parsecs:

•Many astronomers prefer to use parsecs (abbreviated pc) to measure distance to stars.

Units for Distance and Size in the

Universe

•Parsecs:
•A parsec is the distance at which 1 AU subtends an angle of 1 arcsec.

• 1 pc = 3.09 x 1013 km = 3.26 ly

Units for Distance and Size in the

Universe

• Parsecs:

• For even greater distances, astronomers use kiloparsecs and megaparsecs (abbreviated kpc and Mpc).

• 1 kiloparsec = 1 kpc = 1000 pc = 103 pc

• 1 megaparsec = 1 Mpc = 1,000,000 pc = 106 pc

Units for Distance and Size in the

Universe

• Powers of Ten:

• The distances and sizes of of the objects astronomers study vary from very small, including atoms and
atomic nuclei, to very large including galaxies, clusters of galaxies and the size of the universe.

Units for Distance and Size in the

Universe

•Powers of Ten:

•To describe such a huge range, astronomers need a way to avoid confusing terms like "a billion trillion"
and "a millionth".

Units for Distance and Size in the

Universe

• Powers of Ten:

• Astronomers use a system called powersof-ten notation, which consolidates all of the zeros that you
would normally find attached to very large or small numbers such as

1,000,000,000,000 or 0.0000000001.
Units for Distance and Size in the

Universe

• Powers of Ten:

• All of the zeros are put in an exponent, which is written as a superscript, and indicates how many zeros
you would need to write out the long form of the number.

Units for Distance and Size in the

Universe

• Powers of Ten:

• So for example:

• 100 = 1 101 = 10

• 102 = 100 103 = 1000

• 104 = 10,000 and so on.

Units for Distance and Size in the

Universe

• In powers-of-ten notation, numbers are written as a figure between one and ten multiplied by a power
of ten. So for example, the distance to the Moon of

384,000 km can be re-written as 3.84 x

105 km.

Units for Distance and Size in the

Universe

• Notice that 3.84 is between one and ten.

The same number could accurately be rewritten as 38.4 x 104 or 0.384 x 106, but the preferred form is
to have the first number be between one and ten.

Units for Distance and Size in the

Universe

•Very small numbers can also be written using powers-of-ten notation. The exponent is negative for
numbers less than one and indicates dividing by that number of tens.

Units for Distance and Size in the

Universe

• So for example:

• 100 = 1

• 10-1 = 1/10 = 0.1

• 10-2 = 1/10 × 1/10 = 0.01

• 10-3 = 1/10 × 1/10 × 1/10 = 0.001

• 10-4 = 1/10 × 1/10 × 1/10 × 1/10 = 0.0001 and so on.

Units for Distance and Size in the

Universe

•Once again, numbers are written as a figure between one and ten multiplied by a power of ten. So for
example, a number like 0.00000375 would be expressed as 3.75 x 10-6

Units for Distance and Size in the

Universe

• Some familiar numbers written as powers-of-ten:

• One hundred (100) 102

• One thousand (1000) 103

• One million (1,000,000) 106

• One billion (1,000,000,000) 109

•

Units for Distance and Size in the Universe

• Some familiar numbers written as powers-of-ten:

• One trillion (1,000,000,000,000) 1012

• One one-hundredth (0.01) 10-2

• One one-thousandth (0.001) 10-3

• One one-millionth (0.000001) 10-6

Units for Distance and Size in the Universe

•Some familiar numbers written as powers-of-ten:

•One one-billionth (0.000000001)

10-9

• One one-trillionth (0.000000000001)

10-12

Units for Distance and Size in the Universe

•Some examples to try

Units for Distance and Size in the Universe

•Some examples to try

•1. Jupiter is about 5.2 AU away from the Sun. How far is this in km?

7.78 x 108 km

Units for Distance and Size in the Universe

•Some examples to try

• 2. A star is 4.94 x 1013 km away from the Earth. How long will it take the light from this star to reach
the Earth?
•5.2 years

Units for Distance and Size in the Universe

•Some examples to try

•3. Another star is 3.5 kpc away from us. How far away is it in km and in ly?

•1.08 x 1017 km,

•1.14 x 104 ly

•(or 11,410 ly)

Units for Distance and Size in the Universe

•Some examples to try

• 4. Star A is 33 pc away, and Star

B is 109 pc away. What is the difference in distance between the two stars in ly?

•247.76 ly

Stellar Parallax

•Another way to see how this effect works is to hold your hand out in front of you and look at it with
your left eye closed, then your right eye closed. Your hand will appear to move against the background.

Stellar Parallax

•This effect can be used to measure the distances to nearby stars. As the Earth orbits the Sun, a nearby
star will appear to move against the more distant background stars.

Stellar Parallax

•Astronomers can measure a star's position once, and then again 6 months later and calculate the
apparent change in position. The star's apparent motion is called stellar parallax.

Earth

(December)

Sun
Earth

(June)

Earth's Orbit

Parallax Angle Distant 'Fixed Stars

'Nearby' Star

Stellar Parallax

•There is a simple relationship between a star's distance and its parallax angle:

•d = 1/p

Stellar Parallax

•d = 1/p

•The distance d is measured in parsecs and the parallax angle p is measured in arcseconds.

Stellar Parallax

•Some examples to try

•1. A star has a parallax angle p of 0.723 arcseconds.

What is the distance to the star?

Stellar Parallax

•Some examples to try

1/0.723 = 1.38 parsecs

Stellar Parallax

• Some examples to try

• [Link], a binary star in our galaxy, is

a distance of 2.64 parsecs away from us. What would the parallax angle in arcseconds be for this binary
star?
Stellar Parallax

•Some examples to try

1/2.64 = 0.34 arcseconds

Stellar Parallax

•Some examples to try

• 3. Star A has a parallax angle of

0.82 arcseconds, and Star B has a parallax angle of 0.45 arcseconds. Which star is closest to Earth, and
by how much?

Stellar Parallax

•Some examples to try

Star A is closest to Earth.

It is 1 parsec closer than Star B.

Distance modulus

• Apparent magnitude, absolute magnitude and distance are related by an equation:

• m - M = 5 log d - 5

• m is the apparent magnitude of the object

• M is the absolute magnitude of the object

• d is the distance to the object in parsecs

Distance modulus

•The expression m - M is called the distance modulus and is a measure of distance to the object.

An object with a distance modulus of 0 is exactly 10 parsecs away.

Distance modulus
•If the distance modulus is negative, the object is closer than 10 parsecs, and its apparent magnitude is
brighter than its absolute magnitude.

Distance modulus

•If the distance modulus is positive, the object is farther than 10 parsecs and its apparent magnitude is
less bright than its absolute magnitude.

Distance modulus m-M Distance d (parsecs)

-4 1.6

-3 2.5

-2 4.0

-1 6.3

Ο 10

1 16

2 25

3 40

4 63

5 100

10 10/3

20 10^5

[Link]

Distance modulus

• Some examples to try

• [Link] you were viewing the Sun from a planet orbiting another star 40 pc away. What would the
Sun's apparent magnitude be? (The Sun has absolute magnitude M = +4.8)

Distance modulus
•Some examples to try The Sun's apparent magnitude would be +7.8.

Distance modulus

•Some examples to try

• 2. Star A and star B are both equally bright as seen from Earth, but A is 60 pc away while B is 15 pc
away. Which star is intrinsically brighter? By how much?

Distance modulus

•Some examples to try Star A is 16 times brighter than star B.

Distance modulus

•Some examples to try

• 3. Star C has an absolute magnitude of 0.0, and an apparent magnitude of +14.0.

What is the distance to star C?

Distance modulus

•Some examples to try

6309.6 pc (or 103.8 pc)

•Magnitude and Color

Magnitude and Color

•In practice, the magnitude of a celestial object is measured in certain wavelengths or colors using
filters.

Magnitude and Color

•This is because information about the color of stars is very useful to astronomers and gives them
information about the surface temperature of a star.

Magnitude and Color

•The surface temperature of a star determines the color of light it emits.

Magnitude and Color

•Blue stars are hotter than yellow stars, which are hotter than red stars.

Cool Hot

Magnitude and Color

•A hot star like Sirius, with a surface temperature of about 9,400 K emits more blue light than red light,
so it looks brighter through a blue filter than through a red filter.

Magnitude and Color

• The opposite is true of a cooler star such as Betelgeuse, which has a surface temperature of about
3,400 K and looks brighter when viewed through a red filter than when viewed through a blue filter.

Color temperature scale

•The color index of a star is the difference between the magnitude of the star in one filter and the
magnitude of the same star in another filter.

Color temperature scale

•Any filters can be used for color indices, but some of the most common are B - V and V - R. B is blue
wavelengths, V is green wavelengths and R is red wavelengths.

Color temperature scale

•Remember that magnitudes decrease with increasing brightness, so if B - V is small, the star is bluer
(and hotter) than if B - V is large.

Color temperature scale

•For example, for a star with B = 6.7 and V = 8.2, the magnitude in the B filter is brighter than the
magnitude in the V filter, and B - V

= -1.5.

Color temperature scale

•For values of B = 6.7 and V = 5.8, B - V = 0.9, and the star emits more green light than blue (this star
would appear white).
Luminosity

345

67

8000K

6000K

4000K

8 9 10

Wavelength (x100 nm)

The intensity of light at given wavelengths that is emitted by a blackbody (an idealised dense object) at a
particular temperature. The B and V color bands show where blue and green wavelengths lie on the
curves.

Apparent magnitude

•Astronomers use the term apparent magnitude to describe how bright an object appears in the sky
from Earth.

Apparent magnitude

•The idea of a magnitude scale dates back to Hipparchus (around 150 BC) who invented a scale to
describe the brightness of the stars he could see.

Apparent magnitude

• He assigned an apparent magnitude of 1 to the brightest stars in the sky, and he gave the dimmest
stars he could see an apparent magnitude of 6.

He did not include the sun, moon, or planets in his system.

Apparent magnitude
•The magnitude scale astronomers use today is based on Hipparchus' system, but has been expanded
since the invention of the telescope.

Apparent magnitude

• In this system, the brighter an object appears, the lower its magnitude.

Some of the brightest objects (including the sun and planets) visible in the sky have negative values for
apparent magnitude.

Apparent magnitude

•The faintest objects detected with the Hubble

Space Telescope have apparent magnitudes of 30.

Apparent Magnitude Celestial Object

-26.7 Sun

-12.6

-4.4

-3.0

-1.6

+3.0

+5.5

+6.0

+9.5

+13.7

+30

Full Moon

Venus (at brightest)

Mars (at brightest)

Sirius (brightest star)

Naked eye limit in an urban neighborhood

Uranus (at brightest)

Naked eye limit

Faintest objects visible with binoculars

Pluto (at brightest)

Faintest objects observable by the Hubble Space Telescope

Absolute magnitude

•It is a concept that was invented after apparent magnitude when astronomers needed a way to
compare the intrinsic, or absolute brightness of celestial objects.

Absolute magnitude

•The apparent magnitude of an object only tells us how bright an object appears from Earth. It does not
tell us how bright the object is compared to other objects in the universe.

Absolute magnitude

•For example, from Earth the planet Venus appears brighter than any star in the sky. However,

Venus is really much less bright than stars, it is just very close to us.

Absolute magnitude

•Conversely, an object that appears very faint from

Earth, may actually be very bright, but very far away.

Absolute magnitude

•Absolute magnitude is defined to be the apparent magnitude an object would have if it were located at
a distance of 10 parsecs.

Absolute magnitude
•So for example, the apparent magnitude of the

Sun is -26.7 and is the brightest celestial object we can see from Earth.

Absolute magnitude

•However, if the Sun were 10 parsecs away, its apparent magnitude would be +4.7, only about as bright
as Ganymede appears to us on Earth.

Apparent and Absolute Magnitude

Analogy

ABAB

Cars A and B are identical. A's headlights appear brighter because it is closer.

Cars A and B are at the same distance.

A's headlights appear brighter because they are intrinsically brighter.

Example

AВ

What the observer sees

An observer sees two stars. Star A appears brighter than Star B because it is closer to them.

Absolute magnitude is the brightness a star would have at a distance of 10 parsecs. If stars A and B were
both 10 parsecs away from the observer, Star B would appear brighter than Star A.

•Comparing the magnitudes of different objects

Comparing the magnitudes of different objects

•When Hipparchus first invented his magnitude scale, he intended each grade of magnitude to be about
twice the brightness of the following grade.

Comparing the magnitudes of different objects

•In other words, a first magnitude star was twice as bright as a second magnitude star. A star with
apparent magnitude +3 was 8

(2x2x2) times brighter than a star with apparent magnitude +6.

Comparing the magnitudes of different objects

•In 1856, an astronomer named Sir

Norman Robert Pogson formalized the system by defining a typical first magnitude star as a star that is
100 times as bright as a typical sixth magnitude star.

Comparing the magnitudes of different objects

•In other words, it would take

100 stars of magnitude +6 to provide as much light energy as we receive from a single star of magnitude
+1.

Comparing the magnitudes of different objects

•So in the modern system, a magnitude difference of 1 corresponds to a factor of 2.512 in brightness,
because 2.512 x

2.512 x 2.512 x 2.512 x 2.512 =

(2.512)

5 = 100

Magnitude +6 +5 +4 +3 +2

Less bright

x 2.512 x 2.512 X 2.512 x 2.512 x 2.512

x (2.512)5 = x 100

1+

More bright

[Link]
Comparing the magnitudes of different objects

•A fourth magnitude star is 2.512 times as bright as a fifth magnitude star, and a second magnitude star
is (2.512)4 =

39.82 times brighter than a sixth magnitude star.

Comparing the magnitudes of different objects

•The following table shows how the difference in apparent magnitude between two stars (m2 - m1)
corresponds to the ratio of their apparent brightnesses (b1/b2)

Apparent magnitude difference (m2 -

m1)

10

20

Ratio of apparent brightness

(b1/b2)

2.512

(2.512)2 = 6.31

(2.512)3 = 15.85

(2.512)4 = 39.82

(2.512)5 =100
(2.512)10 = 104

(2.512)2020 =108

This relationship can also be shown by the equation:

(m2 - m₁) = 2.5log10(b1/b2)

Some examples to try

• 1. Put these galaxies in order of magnitude from brightest to faintest:

• • NGC 4085: m = 12.94

• • M101: m = 8.30

• • M87: m = 9.60

• • IC1410: m = 15.94

• • NGC 5248: m = 10.97

1. M101, M87, NGC 5248, NGC 4085, IC1410

Some examples to try

•2. How much brighter is a magnitude +2 star than a magnitude +4 star?

2. 6.31 times brighter

Some examples to try

•3. A variable star periodically triples its light output. By how much does the apparent magnitude
change?

3. (m-m)=2.5lg(3; (m-m)= -1.19,so the star's brightnes varies by 1.19 magnitudes

Introduction to

Orbits and Gravity

Introduction to Orbits and Gravity

• Tycho Brahe’s Observatory

• His growing reputation gained him the patronage of the Danish King Frederick II, and

Brahe was able to establish a fine astronomical observatory on the North Sea island of Hven. He was the
last and greatest of the pre-telescopic observers in Europe.

STELLLÆBURGUM

NI INSULA five

HAENA.

OBSERVATORIUM

EXTRA ARCEM URANIAM

SUBTERRANEVM, A TYCHONE

CIRCA ANNAM MD

BRAHENOBILT DAVO

LXXX 11II

[Link]

Introduction to Orbits and Gravity

• Tycho Brahe’s Observatory

• His extensive and precise observations enabled him to note that the positions of the planets varied
from those given in published tables, which were based on the work of Ptolemy.

Introduction to Orbits and Gravity

•Tycho Brahe’s Observatory

•These data were extremely valuable, but Brahe didn’t have the ability to analyze them and develop a
better model than what Ptolemy had published.

Introduction to Orbits and Gravity

•Tycho Brahe’s Observatory

• He was further inhibited because

he was an extravagant and cantankerous fellow, and he accumulated enemies among government
officials.

Introduction to Orbits and Gravity

•Tycho Brahe’s Observatory

•When his patron, Frederick II, died in 1597, Brahe lost his political base and decided to leave Denmark.

Introduction to Orbits and Gravity

• Tycho Brahe’s Observatory

• He move in Prague and became court astronomer to Emperor Rudolf of

Bohemia. There, in the year before his death, he found a most able young mathematician, Johannes
Kepler, to assist him in analyzing his extensive planetary data.

Introduction to Orbits and Gravity

• Johannes Kepler

• Eventually, Kepler went to Prague to serve as an assistant to Brahe, who set him to work trying to find
a satisfactory theory of planetary motion—one that was compatible with the long series of observations
made at Hven.

Introduction to Orbits and Gravity

• Johannes Kepler

• Brahe was reluctant to provide Kepler with much material at any one time for fear that Kepler would
discover the secrets of the universal motion by himself, thereby robbing Brahe of some of the glory.

3 Seix Editer.

J. Ventura.P KEPPLERO Y TYCHO-BRAHE 'EN EL OBSERVATORIO DE PRAGA.

[Link]

Introduction to Orbits and Gravity

• Johannes Kepler

• Only after Brahe’s death in 1601 did

Kepler get full possession of the priceless records. Their study occupied most of Kepler’s time for more
than 20 years.

Introduction to Orbits and Gravity

• Johannes Kepler

• Through his analysis of the motions of the planets, he developed the Kepler’s three laws, which
described the behavior of planets based on their paths through space.

Introduction to Orbits and Gravity

•The First Two Laws of Planetary Motion

Introduction to Orbits and Gravity

• The First Two Laws of Planetary

Motion

• The path of an object through space is called its orbit. Kepler initially assumed that the orbits of
planets were circles, but doing so did not allow him to find orbits that were consistent with Brahe’s
observations.

Introduction to Orbits and Gravity

• The First Two Laws of Planetary

Motion

• Working with the data for Mars, he eventually discovered that the orbit of that planet had the shape
of a somewhat flattened circle, or ellipse.

Circle VS

Ellipse
y

OP = OQ = Radius (r) OP OQ

MATH MONKS

Introduction to Orbits and Gravity

• The First Two Laws of Planetary

Motion

• Next to the circle, the ellipse is the simplest kind of closed curve, belonging to a family of curves
known as conic sections.

Circle

Ellipse

Parabola

Hyperbola

[Link]

Introduction to Orbits and Gravity

• The First Two Laws of Planetary Motion

• The widest diameter of the ellipse is called its major axis. Half this distance—that is, the distance from
the center of the ellipse to one end—is the semimajor axis, which is usually used to specify the size of
the ellipse.
B

Minor axis

Center

d2

Vertex

Focus

Major axis

BYJU'S The Learning App

Introduction to Orbits and Gravity

• The First Two Laws of Planetary Motion

• For example, the semi-major axis of the orbit of Mars, which is also the planet’s average distance from
the Sun, is 228 million kilometers.

(a)

aa

(b)

Introduction to Orbits and Gravity

•The First Two Laws of Planetary

Motion

•Kepler generalized this result in his first law and said that the orbits of all the planets are ellipses.

Introduction to Orbits and Gravity

• The First Two Laws of Planetary Motion

• Here was a decisive moment in the history of human thought: it was not necessary to have only circles
in order to have an acceptable cosmos. The universe could be a bit more complex than the Greek
philosophers had wanted it to be.

Introduction to Orbits and Gravity

• The First Two Laws of Planetary Motion

• Kepler’s second law deals with the speed with which each planet moves along its ellipse, also known
as its orbital speed.

Orbital Speed of the Planets

Neptune

5.43 km/s

Venus

35.02 km/s

Mercury

47.87 km/s

Mars

24.077 km/s

Saturn

9.69 km/s

Earth

29.78 km/s Jupiter

13.07 km/s

Uranus

6.81 km/s
Introduction to Orbits and Gravity

• The First Two Laws of Planetary Motion

• Working with Brahe’s observations of

Mars, Kepler discovered that the planet speeds up as it comes closer to the Sun and slows down as it
pulls away from the Sun.

Fastest Slowest

Why?

EClass 9

Introduction to Orbits and Gravity

• The First Two Laws of Planetary Motion

• He expressed the precise form of this relationship by imagining that the Sun and Mars are connected
by a straight, elastic line. When Mars is closer to the Sun, the elastic line is not stretched as much, and
the planet moves rapidly.

Introduction to Orbits and Gravity

• The First Two Laws of Planetary Motion

• Farther from the Sun, as in positions 3 and 4, the line is stretched a lot, and the planet does not move
so fast. As Mars travels in its elliptical orbit around the Sun, the elastic line sweeps out areas of the
ellipse as it moves.

Introduction to Orbits and Gravity

• The First Two Laws of Planetary

Motion

• Kepler found that in equal intervals of time

(t), the areas swept out in space by this imaginary line are always equal; that is, the area of the region B
from 1 to 2 is the same as that of region A from 3 to 4.

Introduction to Orbits and Gravity

• The First Two Laws of Planetary Motion

• If a planet moves in a circular orbit, the elastic line is always stretched the same amount and the
planet moves at a constant speed around its orbit. But, as Kepler discovered, in most orbits that speed
of a planet orbiting its star (or moon orbiting its planet) tends to vary because the orbit is elliptical.

Sun

21

[Link]

Introduction to Orbits and Gravity

• Kepler’s Third Law

• He wanted to know why the orbits of the planets were spaced as they are and to find a mathematical
pattern in their movements—a “harmony of the spheres” as he called it.

Introduction to Orbits and Gravity

• Kepler’s Third Law

• In 1619, Kepler discovered a basic relationship to relate the planets’ orbits to their relative distances
from the Sun. We define a planet’s orbital period, (P), as the time it takes a planet to travel once around
the Sun.

ORBITAL PERIOD OF THE PLANETS

11.9 years

225 days 687 days 29.5 years 165 years

88 days 365 days 84 years

Spacetime
Venus Mars Saturn Neptune

Mercury Earth Jupiter Uranus

[Link]

Introduction to Orbits and Gravity

• Kepler’s Third Law

• The relationship, now known as

Kepler’s third law, says that a planet’s orbital period squared is proportional to the semimajor axis of its
orbit cubed, or

Introduction to Orbits and Gravity

• Kepler’s Third Law

• When P (the orbital period) is measured in years, and a is expressed in a quantity known as an
astronomical unit (AU), the two sides of the formula are not only proportional but equal.

Introduction to Orbits and Gravity

• Kepler’s Third Law

• In these units,

• Kepler’s third law applies to all objects orbiting the Sun, including Earth, and provides a means for
calculating their relative distances from the Sun from the time they take to orbit.

Introduction to Orbits and Gravity

• Kepler’s Third Law

• For instance, suppose you time how long Mars takes to go around the Sun (in Earth years). Kepler’s
third law can then be used to calculate Mars’ average distance from the Sun.

Introduction to Orbits and Gravity

• Kepler’s Third Law

• Mars’ orbital period (1.88 Earth years) squared, or P2, is 1.882 = 3.53, and according to the equation
for Kepler’s third law, this equals the cube of its semimajor axis, or a3.
Introduction to Orbits and Gravity

• Kepler’s Third Law

• So what number must be cubed to give 3.53? The answer is 1.52 (since

1.52 × 1.52 × 1.52 = 3.53). Thus, Mars’ semimajor axis in astronomical units must be 1.52 AU.

Introduction to Orbits and Gravity

• Kepler’s Third Law

•In other words, to go around the Sun in a little less than two years, Mars must be about 50% (half
again) as far from the Sun as Earth is.

Imagine an object is traveling around the Sun. What would be the orbital period of the object if its orbit
has a semimajor axis of 50 AU?

Solution

From Kepler's third law, we know that (when we use units of years and AU)

P2=a3

If the object's orbit has a semimajor axis of4 AU (a = 50), we can cube 50 and then take the square root
of the result to get P:

P=√3

P = √50 × 50 × 50 = /125,000 = 353.6 years

Therefore, the orbital period of the object is about 350 years. This would place our hypothetical object
beyond the orbit of Pluto.

[Link]

Introduction to Orbits and Gravity

• Kepler’s three laws of planetary motion

can be summarized as follows:

• • Kepler’s first law: Each planet moves around the Sun in an orbit that is an ellipse, with the Sun at one
focus of the ellipse.
Introduction to Orbits and Gravity

• Kepler’s three laws of planetary motion can be summarized as follows:

• • Kepler’s second law: The straight line joining a planet and the Sun sweeps out equal areas in space in
equal intervals of time.

Introduction to Orbits and Gravity

• Kepler’s three laws of planetary motion can be summarized as follows:

• • Kepler’s third law: The square of a planet’s orbital period is directly proportional to the cube of the
semimajor axis of its orbit.

Introduction to Orbits and Gravity

•Newton’s

Universal Law of

Gravitation

Introduction to Orbits and Gravity

• Newton’s Universal Law of Gravitation

• Newton’s laws of motion show that objects at rest will stay at rest and those in motion will continue
moving uniformly in a straight line unless acted upon by a force. Thus, it is the straight line that defines
the most natural state of motion.

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Car moving uniformly on straight track is an example of rectilinear motion collegedunia

Introduction to Orbits and Gravity

• Newton’s Universal Law of

Gravitation

• But the planets move in ellipses, not straight lines; therefore, some force must be bending their paths.
That force, Newton proposed, was gravity.
Introduction to Orbits and Gravity

• Newton’s Universal Law of Gravitation

• In Newton’s time, gravity was something associated with Earth alone. Everyday experience shows us
that Earth exerts a gravitational force upon objects at its surface. If you drop something, it accelerates
toward Earth as it falls. Harth Gravitational Force

Working Model diypandit

diypandit

Introduction to Orbits and Gravity

• Newton’s Universal Law of Gravitation

• Newton’s insight was that Earth’s gravity might extend as far as the Moon and produce the force
required to curve the Moon’s path from a straight line and keep it in its orbit.

Low Tide gravitational force of the Moon

Moon high tide high tide

Moon is much farther away than shown

Introduction to Orbits and Gravity

• Newton’s Universal Law of Gravitation

• He further hypothesized that gravity is not limited to Earth, but that there is a general force of
attraction between all material bodies. If so, the attractive force between the Sun and each of the
planets could keep them in their orbits.

Introduction to Orbits and Gravity

• Newton’s Universal Law of Gravitation

• The precise mathematical description of that gravitational force had to dictate that the planets move
exactly as Kepler had described them to (as expressed in Kepler’s three laws).

Introduction to Orbits and Gravity

• Newton’s Universal Law of Gravitation

• Eventually he was able to conclude that the magnitude of the force of gravity must decrease with
increasing distance between the Sun and a planet (or between any two objects) in proportion to the
inverse square of their separation.

Introduction to Orbits and Gravity

• Newton’s Universal Law of Gravitation

• Newton also concluded that the gravitational attraction between two bodies must be proportional to
their masses. The more mass an object has, the stronger the pull of its gravitational force.

Mass = 120kg

Weight= 120 x 10

1200N

Mass =120kg

Weight=200N

Introduction to Orbits and Gravity

• Newton’s Universal Law of Gravitation

• The gravitational attraction between any two objects is therefore given by one of the most famous
equations in all of science:

Introduction to Orbits and Gravity

• Newton’s Universal Law of Gravitation

• where F gravity is the gravitational force between two objects, M1 and M2 are the masses of the two
objects, and R is their separation. G is a constant number known as the universal gravitational constant,
and the equation itself symbolically summarizes

Newton’s universal law of gravitation.

Introduction to Orbits and Gravity

• Newton’s Universal Law of Gravitation

• Newton’s universal law of gravitation works for the planets, but is it really universal? The gravitational
theory should also predict the observed acceleration of the Moon toward Earth as it orbits Earth, as well
as of any object (say, an apple) dropped near Earth’s surface.

Introduction to Orbits and Gravity

• Newton’s Universal Law of Gravitation

• Newton’s universal law of gravitation says that the force acting upon an object toward Earth should be
inversely proportional to the square of its distance from the center of Earth.

Introduction to Orbits and Gravity

• Newton’s Universal Law of Gravitation

• Objects like apples at the surface of

Earth, at a distance of one Earth-radius from the center of Earth, are observed to accelerate downward
at 9.8 meters per second per second (9.8 m/s2).

Introduction to Orbits and Gravity

• Newton’s Universal Law of Gravitation

• It is this force of gravity on the surface of

Earth that gives us our sense of weight.

Unlike your mass, which would remain the same on any planet or moon, your weight depends on the
local force of gravity.

Introduction to Orbits and Gravity

• Newton’s Universal Law of Gravitation

• So you would weigh less on Mars and the

Moon than on Earth, even though there is no change in your mass. (Which means you would still have to
go easy on the desserts in the college cafeteria when you got back!)

Introduction to Orbits and Gravity

•Orbits in the Solar System

Introduction to Orbits and Gravity

• Orbits in the Solar System

• The place where the planet is closest to the and moves the fastest is called the perihelion of its orbit,
and the place where it is farthest away and moves the most slowly is the aphelion.

January

Perihelion

July

Aphelion

147.1 million km 152.1 million km

91.4 million mi 94.5 million mi

[Link]

Introduction to Orbits and Gravity

•Orbits in the Solar System

•For the Moon or a satellite orbiting Earth, the corresponding terms are perigee and apogee.

Aphelion

(July 2)

Earth Orbit

Sun

Perihelion

(Jan 2)

Perigee Apogee

Moon Orbit

[Link]
Introduction to Orbits and Gravity

• Orbits in the Solar System

• According to Kepler’s laws, Mercury must have the shortest orbital period (88 Earthdays); thus, it has
the highest orbital speed, averaging 48 km/s. At the opposite extreme,

Neptune has a period of 165 years and an average orbital speed of just 5 km/s.

164,8 Years

365 Days

Neptune

687 Days 88 Days

Earth

224,7 Days 11,9 Years

Venus

Mercury Jupiter Mars Sun

29,5 Years

Saturn

VectorStock®

84 Years

Uranus

What's in a year?

Solar system edition

[Link]/25124620

Introduction to Orbits and Gravity

•Orbits in the Solar System

•All the planets have orbits of rather low eccentricity. The most eccentric orbit is that of

Mercury (0.21); the rest have eccentricities smaller than 0.1.

Sun

Orbit of

Mercury

Orbit of

Venus

Orbit of

Earth

Transit

Transit

28°

430

Mercury

Venus

Earth

[Link]

Introduction to Orbits and Gravity

•Orbits in the Solar System

•The planetary orbits are also confined close to a common plane, which is near the plane of

Earth’s orbit (called the ecliptic).

Introduction to Orbits and Gravity

• Orbits in the Solar System

• The strange orbit of Pluto is inclined about 17° to the ecliptic, and Eris (orbiting even farther away
from the Sun than Pluto) by 44°, but all the major planets lie within 10° of the common plane of the
solar system.

Sun

Uranus

Mercury Asteroid belt

Saturn Venus

Earth

Mars Jupiter

Neptune

Pluto

Kuiper Belt

Uranus

Saturn

Jupiter

Neptune

Eris Pluto

Outer

Solar System

Introduction to Orbits and Gravity

•Orbits of Asteroids and Comets

•Both asteroids and comets are believed to be small chunks of material left over from the formation
process of the solar system.

Introduction to Orbits and Gravity

•Orbits of Asteroids and

Comets

•In general, asteroids have orbits with smaller semimajor axes than do comets

Introduction to Orbits and Gravity

•Orbits of Asteroids and Comets

•The majority of them lie between 2.2 and 3.3 AU, in the region known as the asteroid belt

Introduction to Orbits and Gravity

•Orbits of Asteroids and Comets

•It is because these two planets are so far apart that stable orbits of small bodies can exist in the region
between them.

Encke

Jupiter

Kopff Halley

Hygeia

Ceres

Vesta

Pallas

-Venus

Mercury

Mars
Sun Earth

Introduction to Orbits and Gravity

•Orbits of Asteroids and Comets

•Comets generally have orbits of larger size and greater eccentricity than those of the asteroids.

Introduction to Orbits and Gravity

• Orbits of Asteroids and Comets

• Typically, the eccentricity of their orbits is 0.8 or higher. According to Kepler’s second law, therefore,
they spend most of their time far from the Sun, moving very slowly.

Introduction to Orbits and Gravity

•Motions of Satellites and Spacecraft

Introduction to Orbits and Gravity

• Motions of Satellites and Spacecraft

•Sputnik, the first artificial Earth satellite, was launched by what was then called the Soviet Union on
October 4, 1957.

Introduction to Orbits and Gravity

• Motions of Satellites and Spacecraft

• Since that time, thousands of satellites have been placed into orbit around Earth, and spacecraft have
also orbited the Moon, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and a number of asteroids and comets.

Introduction to Orbits and Gravity

• Motions of Satellites and Spacecraft

• Once an artificial satellite is in orbit, its behavior is no different from that of a natural satellite. If the
satellite is high enough to be free of atmospheric friction, it will remain in orbit forever.

Introduction to Orbits and Gravity

• Motions of Satellites and Spacecraft

• However, although there is no difficulty in maintaining a satellite once it is in orbit, a great deal of
energy is required to lift the spacecraft off Earth and accelerate it to orbital speed.

Introduction to Orbits and Gravity

• Motions of Satellites and Spacecraft

• To illustrate how a satellite is launched, imagine a gun firing a bullet horizontally from the top of a high
mountain, as in

Figure 1, which has been adapted from a similar diagram by Newton.

Иaa

(a) (b) V

Introduction to Orbits and Gravity

•Motions of Satellites and Spacecraft

•Imagine, further, that the friction of the air could be removed and that nothing gets inthebullet’sway.

Introduction to Orbits and Gravity

• Motions of Satellites and Spacecraft

•Then the only force that acts on the bullet after it leaves the muzzle is the gravitational force between
the bullet and Earth.

Introduction to Orbits and Gravity

• Motions of Satellites and Spacecraft

• Each year, more than 50 new satellites are launched into orbit by such nations as Russia, the United
States, China, Japan, India, and Israel, as well as by the European Space Agency (ESA), a consortium of
European nations

Introduction to Orbits and Gravity

• Motions of Satellites and Spacecraft

• Today, these satellites are used for weather tracking, ecology, global positioning systems,
communications, and military purposes, to name a few uses.

Introduction to Orbits and Gravity

• Motions of Satellites and Spacecraft

• Most satellites are launched into low Earth orbit, since this requires the minimum launch energy. At
the orbital speed of 8 kilometers per second, they circle the planet in about 90 minutes.

Introduction to Orbits and Gravity

• Motions of Satellites and Spacecraft

• Some of the very low Earth orbits are not indefinitely stable because, as Earth’s atmosphere swells
from time to time, a frictional drag is generated by the atmosphere on these satellites, eventually
leading to a loss of energy and “decay” of the orbit.

Introduction to Orbits and Gravity

•Interplanetary Spacecraft

•The exploration of the solar system has been carried out largely by robot spacecraft sent to the other
planets.

Introduction to Orbits and Gravity

•Interplanetary Spacecraft

•To escape Earth, these craft must achieve escape speed, the speed needed to move away from Earth
forever, which is about 11 kilometers per second.

Introduction to Orbits and Gravity

•Interplanetary Spacecraft

•After escaping Earth, these craft coast to their targets, subject only to minor trajectory adjustments
provided by small thruster rockets on board.

Introduction to Orbits and Gravity

•Interplanetary Spacecraft

•As it comes close to its target, a spacecraft is deflected by the planet’s gravitational force into a
modified orbit, either gaining or losing energy in the process.

Introduction to Orbits and Gravity

• Interplanetary Spacecraft

• Spacecraft controllers have actually been able to use a planet’s gravity to redirect a flyby spacecraft to
a second target. For example,

Voyager 2 used a series of gravity-assisted encounters to yield successive flybys of

Jupiter (1979), Saturn (1980), Uranus (1986), and Neptune (1989).

Introduction to Orbits and Gravity

•Interplanetary Spacecraft

•The Galileo spacecraft, launched in 1989, flew past Venus once and Earth twice to gain the energy
required to reach its ultimate goal of orbiting Jupiter.

Introduction to Orbits and Gravity

•Interplanetary Spacecraft

•If we wish to orbit a planet, we must slow the spacecraft with a rocket when the spacecraft is near its
destination, allowing it to be captured into an elliptical orbit.

Introduction to Orbits and Gravity

• Interplanetary Spacecraft

• Additional rocket thrust is required to bring a vehicle down from orbit for a landing on the surface.
Finally, if a return trip to Earth is planned, the landed payload must include enough propulsive power to
repeat the entire process in reverse.
Stellar Parallax

• arent motion is called stellar parallax.

• During the first six years of its operation, the Hubble Space Telescope circled Earth 37,000 times, for a
total of 1,280,000,000 km. Use scientific notation to find the number of km in one orbit.