Astronomers have observed a small,
massive object at the center of our Milky Way galaxy . A ring of material orbits this massive object; the ring has a diameter
of about 15 light-years and an orbital speed of about 200 km/s. (a) Determine the mass of the object at the center of the Milky Way
galaxy. Give your answer both in kilograms and in solar masses (one
solar mass is the mass of the sun). (b) Observations of stars, as well
as theories of the structure of stars, suggest that it is impossible for
a single star to have a mass of more than about 50 solar masses. Can
this massive object be a single, ordinary star? (c) Many astronomers
believe that the massive object at the center of the Milky Way galaxy
is a black hole. If so, what must the Schwarzschild radius of this black
hole be? Would a black hole of this size fit inside the earth’s orbit
around the sun?
Trending nowThis is a popular solution!
Step by stepSolved in 3 steps
- A star near the visible edge of a galaxy travels in a uniform circular orbit. It is 48,300 ly (light-years) from the galactic center and has a speed of 275 km/s. Estimate the total mass of the galaxy based on the motion of the star. Gravitational constant is 6.674×10−11 m3/(kg·s2) and mass of the Sun Ms=1.99 × 1030 kg. dont provide hand written solutionarrow_forwardProblem 6: Two satellites are in circular orbits around a planet that has radius 9 x 106 m. One satellite has mass 68.0 kg, orbital radius 7 x 107 m, and orbital speed 4800 m/sec. The second satellite has mass 84.0 kg and orbital radius 3 × 107 m. What is the orbital speed of this second satellite? Answer: 7332.1 m/sec. Problem 7: Planets Beyond the Solar System. On October 15, 2001, a planet was discovered orbiting around the star HD 68988. Its orbital distance was measured to be 1.05 × 1010 m from the center of the star, and its orbital period was estimated at 6.3 days = 5.44 × 105 sec . What is the mass of HD 68988? Express your answer in kilograms and in terms of our sun's mass (Msun =1.99 × 1030 kg) Answer: M = 2.31 × 1030 p kg. = 1.16MSun-arrow_forwardPlaskett's binary system consists of two stars that revolve in a circular orbit about a center of mass midway between them. This statement implies that the masses of the two stars are equal (see figure below). Assume the orbital speed of each star is V = 240 km/s and the orbital period of each is 12.1 days. Find the mass M of each star. (For comparison, the mass of our Sun is 1.99 x 1030 kg.) solar masses XCM Marrow_forward
- Astronomers have observed a small, massive object at the center of our Milky Way Galaxy. A ring of material orbits this massive object; the ring has a diameter of about 17 light-years and an orbital speed of about 100 km/s. A) Determine the mass M of the massive object at the center of the Milky Way Galaxy. Give your answer in kilograms.Express your answer in kilograms. B) Give your answer in solar masses (one solar mass is the mass of the sun). Express your answer in units of solar masses. C) Many astronomers believe that the massive object at the center of the Milky Way Galaxy is a black hole. If so, what must the Schwarzschild radius RS of this black hole be? Express your answer in meters.arrow_forwardProblem 5: Suppose you are told that a satellite orbiting the Earth has a orbital period of 0.85 hours. a)Using the orbital characteristics of the Moon (RM = 3.84 × 105km and TM = 0.0748 y), use Kepler's laws to calculate the orbital radius for the satellite, in kilometers. b)What is unreasonable about this result?MultipleChoice :1) This radius is unreasonable because it is smaller than the orbital radius of the Moon.2) There is nothing unreasonable about the result.3) This radius is unreasonable because it is greater than the radius of the Earth.4) This radius is unreasonable because it is greater than the orbital radius of the Moon.5) This radius is unreasonable because it is smaller than the radius of Earth.arrow_forwardComets travel around the sun in elliptical orbits with large eccentricities. If a comet has speed 3.1x10^4 m/s when at a distance of 2.7x10^11 m from the center of the sun, what is its speed when at a distance of 4.7x10^10 m? Mass of the Sun is 1.99×10^30 kg. Gravitational constant is G=6.67×10^(−11) m^3 /(kg⋅s). What is the formula? (Answer: 75006.70209088 m/s)arrow_forward
- Astronomical observations of our Milky Way galaxy indicate that it has a mass of about 8 x 1011 solar masses. A star orbiting near the galaxy's periphery is 5.7 x 104 light years from its center. (For your calculations, assume that the galaxy's mass is concentrated near its center.) (a) What should the orbital period of that star be? yr (b) If its period is 5.2 x 10 years instead, what is the mass of the galaxy? Such calculations are used to imply the existence of "dark matter" in the universe and have indicated, for example, the existence of very massive black holes at the centers of some galaxies. solar massesarrow_forward(a) Based on the observations, determine the total mass M of the planet. (b) Which moon and planet of our solar system is the team observing? (Use literature.)arrow_forwardJupiter's moon Io has active volcanoes (in fact, it is the most volcanically active body in the solar system) that eject material as high as 500 km (or even higher) above the surface. Io has a mass of 8.93×1022kg8.93×1022kg and a radius of 1821 km. How high would this material go on earth if it were ejected with the same speed as on Io? (RE = 6370 km, mE=5.96×1024kg)arrow_forward
- Plaskett's binary system consists of two stars that revolve in a circular orbit about a center of mass midway between them. This statement implies that the masses of the two stars are equal (see figure below). Assume the orbital speed of each star is v| = 225 km/s and the orbital period of each is 11.6 days. Find the mass M of each star. (For comparison, the mass of our Sun is 1.99 x 1030 kg.) M XCM M Part 1 of 3 - Conceptualize From the given data, it is difficult to estimate a reasonable answer to this problem without working through the details and actually solving it. A reasonable guess might be that each star has a mass equal to or slightly larger than our Sun because fourteen days is short compared to the periods of all the Sun's planets. Part 2 of 3 - Categorize The only force acting on each star is the central gravitational force of attraction which results in a centripetal acceleration. When we solve Newton's second law, we can find the unknown mass in terms of the variables…arrow_forwardAstronomical observations of our Milky Way galaxy indicate that it has a mass of about 8 x 10¹¹ solar masses. A star orbiting near the galaxy's periphery is 5.9 x 104 light years from its center. (For your calculations, assume that the galaxy's mass is concentrated near its center.) What should the orbital period of that star be? yr If its period is 5.8 x 107 years instead, what is the mass of the galaxy? Such calculations are used to imply the existence of "dark matter" in the universe and have indicated, for example, the existence of very massive black holes at the centers of some galaxies. solar massesarrow_forwardThe radius Rh of a black hole is the radius of a mathematical sphere, called the event horizon, that is centered on the black hole. Information from events inside the event horizon cannot reach the outside world. According to Einstein's general theory of relativity, Rh = 2GM/c2, where M is the mass of the black hole and c is the speed of light. Suppose that you wish to study a black hole near it, at a radial distance of 48Rh. However, you do not want the difference in gravitational acceleration between your feet and your head to exceed 10 m/s2 when you are feet down (or head down) toward the black hole. (a) Take your height to be 1.5 m. What is the limit to the mass of the black hole you can tolerate at the given radial distance? Give the ratio of this mass to the mass MS of our Sun.arrow_forward