Understanding Our Universe
3rd Edition
ISBN: 9780393614428
Author: PALEN, Stacy, Kay, Laura, Blumenthal, George (george Ray)
Publisher: W.w. Norton & Company,
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Chapter 9, Problem 40QAP
(a)
To determine
The semi major axes of orbits of comets.
(b)
To determine
The maximum distance from Sun reached by comets Halley and Hale-Bopp.
(c)
To determine
The comet that is most pristine among the three comets; the comet that is least pristine among the three comets.
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Comet Halley has a semi-major axis of 17.7 AU. (The AU, or Astronomical Unit, is the distance from the Sun to the Earth. 1 AU = 1.50x1011 m.) The eccentricity of Comet Halley is 0.967.
a. How far is Comet Halley from the sun at Aphelion, the farthest position from the sun? (Give your answer in AU.)?
b. What is comet Halley's orbital time? (Give your answer in years.) Note: Using Kepler's third law in the form: P2 = a3 is convenient. This equation works for any object orbiting the sun when the orbital period is in years and the semi major axis is in AU. The reason this works is because this equation is normalized to earth. The AU and year are both 1 for Earth.
c. In what year will Comet Halley start to move back toward the sun?
The table below presents the semi-major axis (a) and Actual orbital period for all of the major planets in the solar system. Cube for each planet the semi-major axis in Astronomical Units. Then take the square root of this number to get the Calculated orbital period of each planet. Fill in the final row of data for each planet.
Table of Data for Kepler’s Third Law:
Table of Data for Kepler’s Third Law:
Planet aau = Semi-Major Axis (AU) Actual Planet Calculated Planet
Period (Yr) Period (Yr)
__________ ______________________ ___________ ________________
Mercury 0.39 0.24
Venus 0.72 0.62
Earth 1.00 1.00
Mars 1.52 1.88
Jupiter…
Which of the following is least reasonable regarding comets?
Group of answer choices
Short-period comets originate in the Kuiper belt and take less than than about 200 years to orbit the Sun.
Long-period comets originate in the Oort cloud and can take millions of years to orbit around the Sun, in randomly oriented orbital planes.
The ion tail of a comet tends to produce a blue glow, as the ions inside it absorb sunlight and re-emit the absorbed energy with a characteristic color (somewhat like the gas atoms in a neon light or in an Aurora).
An ion tail is typically narrow and straight and always trails the comet, like long hair in the wind.
The dust tail of a comet often looks curved and its whitish color is just reflected sunlight.
Chapter 9 Solutions
Understanding Our Universe
Ch. 9.1 - Prob. 9.1CYUCh. 9.2 - Prob. 9.2CYUCh. 9.3 - Prob. 9.3CYUCh. 9.4 - Prob. 9.4CYUCh. 9.5 - Prob. 9.5CYUCh. 9.6 - Prob. 9.6CYUCh. 9 - Prob. 1QAPCh. 9 - Prob. 2QAPCh. 9 - Prob. 3QAPCh. 9 - Prob. 4QAP
Ch. 9 - Prob. 5QAPCh. 9 - Prob. 6QAPCh. 9 - Prob. 7QAPCh. 9 - Prob. 8QAPCh. 9 - Prob. 9QAPCh. 9 - Prob. 10QAPCh. 9 - Prob. 11QAPCh. 9 - Prob. 12QAPCh. 9 - Prob. 13QAPCh. 9 - Prob. 14QAPCh. 9 - Prob. 15QAPCh. 9 - Prob. 16QAPCh. 9 - Prob. 17QAPCh. 9 - Prob. 18QAPCh. 9 - Prob. 19QAPCh. 9 - Prob. 20QAPCh. 9 - Prob. 21QAPCh. 9 - Prob. 22QAPCh. 9 - Prob. 23QAPCh. 9 - Prob. 24QAPCh. 9 - Prob. 25QAPCh. 9 - Prob. 26QAPCh. 9 - Prob. 27QAPCh. 9 - Prob. 28QAPCh. 9 - Prob. 29QAPCh. 9 - Prob. 30QAPCh. 9 - Prob. 31QAPCh. 9 - Prob. 32QAPCh. 9 - Prob. 33QAPCh. 9 - Prob. 34QAPCh. 9 - Prob. 35QAPCh. 9 - Prob. 36QAPCh. 9 - Prob. 37QAPCh. 9 - Prob. 38QAPCh. 9 - Prob. 39QAPCh. 9 - Prob. 40QAPCh. 9 - Prob. 41QAPCh. 9 - Prob. 42QAPCh. 9 - Prob. 43QAPCh. 9 - Prob. 44QAPCh. 9 - Prob. 45QAP
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