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Objectives: To,
i) understand gravitational field strength, g, and know that it is different on
other planets and the moon from that on the Earth.
ii) explain that gravitational force:
- causes moons to orbit planets
- causes the planets to orbit the sun
- causes the moon and artificial satellites to orbit the Earth
- causes comets to orbit the sun
iii) describe the differences in the orbits of comets, moons and planets
use the relationship:
orbital speed = (2 orbital radius) / time period
v = (2 r) / T
understand that:
- the universe is a large collection of billions of galaxies
- a galaxy is a large collection of billions of stars
- our solar system is in the Milky Way galaxy.
Meaning of Astronomy.
Its the study of motion and nature of celestial bodies like planets, stars and
galaxy.
Solar System.
It consists of the sun and the astronomical objects gravitationally bound in
orbit around it.
It has 8 planets and the orbits of the planets are elliptical (like squashed
circles).
The sun is at the centre of the solar system and its the biggest object in the
solar system. It contains more than 99% of the solar systems mass.
Planets.
The word planet comes from the ancient Greek word meaning Wonderer.
A planet is a body that orbits the Sun, is massive enough for its own gravity
to make it round, and has cleared its neighbourhood of smaller objects
around its orbit.
Based on this, International Astronomical Unions definition of 2006, there
are only eight planets in orbit around the Sun i.e Mercury,Venus,
Earth,Mars,Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.
Planets are non-luminous objects.
The 5planets closest to the sun(not including the Earth) are all visible to us
with the naked eye. The last two Uranus and Neptune are so far away that
they were discovered after the invention of the telescope.
The strength of the gravity on a planet or moon is called its Gravitational
field strength,g. the gravitational field strength of the Earth= 10N/Kg while
that of the moon =1.67N/Kg.
Planets are held in orbit by the gravitational pull of the sun. The gravitational
pull on the mercury is quite large compared with that exerted on Neptune.
This is why Mercury follows a much more tightly curved path than Neptune.
N/B
An orbit is a gravitationally curved path of an object around a point in space.
Planets and stars can look very similar in the night sky. But if you watch them
over a period of several nights the planets will change their positions against
the background of distant stars.
Moons.
Asteroids.
An asteroid is a celestial body orbiting the Sun that is not massive enough to
be spherical as a result of its own gravity.
Most asteroids are found between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter a region
called The Asteroid Belt.
There are about 750 000 asteroids larger than 1km across.
A few, called Near Earth Asteroids can pass very close to the Earth.
Asteroid Vesta image taken on July 17th 2011 by the Dawn spacecraft
2.Formed much closer to the sun, 2. Formed farther from the sun
where it was too warm for ice to where ice would not melt.
remain solid.
3.Do not have tails 3.Have tails.
Satellites.
A satellite is an object that orbits a larger mass like a planet.
Satellites are held in orbits by the gravitational forces.
1. Natural Satellites.
These are satellites that naturally orbit other larger bodies e.g Earth is a
satellite of the sunn and the moon the satellite of the Earth.
2. Artificial Satellites.
These are manufactured objects that orbit the planets.
To get a satellite in orbit, a lot of energy is required to overcome tha Earths
gravity, as with rockets going to the moon.
The higher the orbit above the earth, the more energy is required to get it
there.
Example is the communication satellites.
Communication satellites
These are usually placed in geostationary orbits so that they always stay
above the same place on the Earths surface.
Gravitational Forces.
The force of gravity is responsible for the orbits of planets, moons,
asteroids and comets.
In 1687 Sir Isaac Newton stated that this gravitational force:
- is always attractive
- would double if either the mass of Sun or the planet was doubled
- decreases by a factor of 4 as the distance between the Sun and a planet
doubles.
The gravitational field strength is equal to the gravitational force exerted
per kilogram.
Near the Earths surface, g = 10 N/kg
In most cases gravitational field strength in N/kg is numerically equal to
the acceleration due to gravity in m/s2, hence they both use the same
symbol g.
Orbital speed of satellites.
Speeds of satellites vary depending on the tasks they are oerforming e.g
communication satellites are put in high orbits and travel approximately
3km/s, while those in the low polar orbits with speeds of about 8km/s.
Speed=distance/time period
Distance=circumference of circular orbit
=2 radius of theorbit .
2. Calculate the orbital speed of the Moon around the Earth. (Moon
orbital radius = 380 000 km; orbit time = 27.3 days)
v = (2 x r ) / T
= (2 x [380 000 km] ) / [27.3 days]
but 27.3 days = (27.3 x 24 x 60 x 60) seconds
= 2 359 000 s
and 380 000 km = 380 000 000 metres
v = (2 x [380 000 000] ) / [2 359 000]
orbital speed = 1 012 m/s
3. Calculate the orbital time of a satellite that has a speed of 3 075 m/s
and height above the earth of 35 906 km. (Earth radius = 6 378 km)
The orbit radius of the satellite = (35 576 + 6 378) km = 42 284 km
v = (2 x r ) / T
becomes: T = (2 x r ) / v
= (2 x [42 284 km] ) / [3 075 m/s]
but 42 284 km = 42 284 000 metres
T = (2 x [41 954 000 ] ) / [3 075 ]
orbital time = 86 400 seconds
= 1440 minutes
= 24 hours
Galaxies
Galaxies consist of billions of stars bound together by the force of
gravity.
There are thought to be at least 200 billion galaxies in our Universe
each containing on average 2 billion stars.
Types of galaxy
The Milky Way is the name of our galaxy.
Its a spiral galaxy of which our our universe is part of. We are
approximately 2/3 of the way out from the centre of our galaxy along
one of the rams of the spiral.
From Earth we can see our galaxy edge-on. In a very dark sky it
appears like a cloud across the sky resembling a strip of spilt milk.