PHYS 1403 Lab 4 Solar System Models

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Astronomy

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Apr 3, 2024

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C Sun Earth Name: Solar System Models – Student Guide Background Material Review the Geocentric Model background material. The simulation of Ptolemy’s model demonstrates the dominate model when Copernicus presented his heliocentric model. Thoroughly review the Heliocentric Model background material. https://astro.unl.edu/naap/ssm/ssm.html Question 1: Look at the Animation of the Copernican Solar System on the “Heliocentricism” page. What relationship do you notice between how fast a planet moves in its orbit and its distance from the Sun? The closer the planet is to the sun, the faster it moves. Question 2: The table below concerns various elongation configurations for a hypothetical superior planet. Complete any missing elongations, terminology, or lettered labels on the drawing where the Sun and Earth are shown. NAAP – Solar System Models 1/7 Location Elongation Term A 180° Opposition B 90 Western Quadrature C 0 Conjunction D East 120° XXX
C Sun Earth Question 3: The table below concerns various elongation configurations for a hypothetical inferior planet. Complete any missing elongations, terminology, or lettered labels on the drawing where the Sun and Earth are shown. Simulator Exercises Open up the Planetary Configurations Simulator and complete the following exercises. Question 4: In this exercise we will measure the synodic period of Mercury. Set the observer’s planet to Earth and the target planet to Mercury. The synodic period of a planet is the time it takes to go from one elongation configuration to the next occurrence of that same configuration. However, it makes sense to use an easily recognized configuration like superior conjunction. Drag a planet (or the timeline) until Mercury is at superior conjunction. Now zero the counter, click start animation, and observe the counter. A synodic period is that time until Mercury is once again at superior conjunction. What is the synodic period of Mercury? 0.332 In the previous exercise superior conjunction was used as the reference configuration, but in practice it is not the best elongation configuration to use. Explain why. What is the best elongation configuration to use? (Hint: when is an inferior planet easiest to observe in the sky?) Do you get the same result for the synodic period you got in Question 4? The best elongation configuration for observing inner planets like Mercury and Venus is greatest elongation, when they are at their maximum angular distance from the Sun as viewed from Earth NAAP – Solar System Models 2/7 Location Elongation Term A 0 Superior Conjunction B 0 Inferior Conjunction C 46 East Greatest elongation D West 20° XXX
Question 5: Use greatest elongation as the reference configuration to calculate the synodic period of Venus. (Be careful. There are two different occurrences of greatest elongation for an inferior planet: eastern and western.) Also, record the value of the greatest elongation of Venus Synodic period of Venus: 225 Greatest elongation of Venus: 584 What general trend do you notice between an inferior planet's distance from the Earth and its synodic period? The synodic pattern slows when it is close to an inferior planet and speeds up when further away. Question 6: Now use the simulator to find the value of Mercury's greatest elongation. Greatest elongation of Mercury: 23 degrees Compare the values of greatest elongation for Mercury and Venus. What relationship do you notice between the value of greatest elongation of a planet and its distance from the Sun? Can you create a hypothetical 3 rd inferior planet in the simulator to check your reasoning? Mercury typically achieves a greatest elongation of approximately 18-28 degrees from the Sun, while Venus, farther from the Sun, reaches a greater greatest elongation of about 45-47 degrees, indicating a positive relationship between a planet's distance from the Sun and its greatest elongation value. Question 7: Now we will measure the synodic period of Mars. As before, set Mars up in a particular elongation configuration, zero the counter, and then animate the simulator again to see how long it takes Mars to return to the same configuration. Synodic period of Mars: 2.14 Question 8: Just as with superior conjunction in Question 2, conjunction is not the best configuration to observe a superior planet in the sky. Explain why this is and explain which configuration is best for observing a superior planet. Conjunction is not the optimal configuration for observing superior planets because only inferior planets can be in inferior conjunction. The best configuration for observing superior planets is opposition because it occurs when the planet, the Sun, and Earth are all aligned in a straight line, providing an ideal viewing opportunity. Measure the synodic periods of Jupiter and Saturn . Synodic period of Jupiter: 11.9 yrs Synodic period of Saturn: 29.5 yrs NAAP – Solar System Models 3/7
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