Over 500 planets have so far been detected beyond our solar system. This is accomplished by looking for the effect the planet has on the star. The star is not truly stationary; instead, it and its planets orbit around the center of mass of the system. Astronomers can measure this wobble in the position of a star.
a.) For a star with the mass and size of our sun and having a planet with two times the mass of Jupiter, where would the center of mass of this system be located, relative to the center of the star, if the distance from the star to the planet was the same as the distance from Jupiter to our sun?
Answer: x(c) = __________ m
b.) If the planet had two times earth's mass, where would the center of mass of the system be located, relative to the center of the star, if the planet was just as far from the star as the earth is from the sun?
Answer: x(c) = __________ m
c.) In view of your results in Parts A and B, why is it much easier to detect stars having large planets rather than small ones?
Answer is free response, essay format (must be less than 500 words)
Over 500 planets have so far been detected beyond our solar system. This is accomplished by looki...
ASTRONOMY 4. Suppose we make a scale model of the Solar System in which the model Earth is 1 centimeter in radius (about the size of a piece of candy). The real Earth is 6.4x10"cm in radius. Jupiter is 7.1x10°cm in radius. How big must the scale model version of Jupiter be in order to be the right size relative to the Earth? 5. Kepler's Third Law of planetary motion relates the time, P, i takes a planet to complete...
Warm Up One of the most reliable ways to detect planets orbiting other stars is to look for regular dips in the stars apparent magnitude (brightness). KIC 3558849 is a star of roughly the EPIC 26103150, Ko-11.782 Lst 90009 same mass and radius as our Sun Dips are observed in its brightness every 1322 days. How far away from. 100 the center of KIC 3558849 is this 0 9980 planet orbiting? Warm Up One of the most reliable ways to...
In recent years, scientists have discovered hundreds of planets orbiting other stars. Some of these planets are in orbits that are similar to that of earth, which orbits the sun (Msun = 1.99 × 1030 kg) at a distance of 1.50 × 1011 m, called 1 astronomical unit (1 au). Others have extreme orbits that are much different from anything in our solar system. The following problem relates to one of these planets that follows circular orbit around its star....
Planets X, Y, and Z have circular orbits around a Star, which is similar to our own Sun. Given the data listed below, answer the following questions. Note: "Days" are treated as "Earth days", thus having 24 hrs. Name Mass (kg) Orbit Radius (million km) Period (days) Planet X 5.82E24 141.4 315.6 Planet Y 7.13E23 451.5 Planet Z 3.87E25 104.1 a) Use the data of Planet Z to determine its orbital radius
If astronomers were to find they have made a mistake and our solar system is actually 7.8 (rather than 8.2) kpc from the center of the galaxy, but the orbital velocity of the sun is still 240 km/s, what is the minimum mass of the galaxy? (Hint: Use Kepler's third law.)
HD209458b was discovered in 1999, becoming the first exoplanet to be discovered using the transit method: this planet’s orbit is oriented just right, so that it regularly passes in front of its star, as seen from Earth. When this happens, it blocks out a portion of the star’s light. If astronomers notice the star’s brightness dipping for a short time over and over with a consistent period, it suggests a planet is responsible. Further observations of the star’s Doppler shift...
A) In recent years, a number of nearby stars have been found to possess planets. Suppose, the orbital radius of such a planet is found to be 4.7 1011 m, with a period of 1300 days. Find the mass of the star. kg B) When a spacecraft travels from the Earth to the Moon, both the Earth and the Moon exert a gravitational force on the spacecraft. Eventually, the spacecraft reaches a point where the Moon's gravitational attraction overcomes the...
For the following, quote your numerical answers to two significant figures: a) A binary system consists of two stars orbiting a common center of mass. Star A is a white star of mass MA = 2.02Mo, where Mo = 1.989 x 1030 kg is the mass of the Sun. Its companion, Star B, is a white dwarf with mass Mg = 0.978M. The orbital period of the two objects is observed to be t = 50.09 years. What is the...
3. The following table comes from an article "7 Earth-sized planets circle nearby star," from Science News, March 18, 2017. Planetary lineup Seven Earth-sized planets (illustrated) have been found in orbit around the ultracool dwarf star TRAPPIST-1. Astronomers already know many characteristics of these planets. (By convention, the first exoplanet discovered in a system is designated b.) Orbitdl 151 days 2.42 days 4.05 days 6.10 days 9.21 days 12.35 days -20 days sac AU 0.015 AU 0021AU 0028 AU 0.037...
Question 12 [4 marks] Out of the rocky planets in our solar system excluding Earth (so that is Mercury, Mars, and Venus) and the moons Europa and Titan, which one do you think is the most likely to have life-forms currently or to have had them at some point previously. Provide three reasons (maximum two sentences each, point form is best) as to why you think that planet/moon is most likely to have life now or to have had life...