Astrophysics.

The Sun is our nearest star. It is a relatively small star when compared to other stars in the Universe. Our
Solar System contains the Sun and everything that
orbits it.

1. The solar system: The Sun, the

Earth's star, is the largest object in the
Solar System. The Sun’s huge
gravitational field keeps many other
objects - planets, dwarf planets,
asteroids and comets – in orbit around it.
There are similar solar systems around
other stars.

Planets are kept in orbits due to gravitational forces. Gravitational forces are exerted between
objects that is due to their masses. Gravity can change the motion of an object by changing its
speed, distance or both.

Gravity
The motion of galaxies, stars and planets are all ruled by the force of gravity. This force between any 2
objects depends on the masses of the objects and also the distance between them. The pull of gravity
makes:

 moons orbit planets

 artificial satellites (like the international space station) orbit the Earth

 the Planets orbit the Sun

 comets orbit the Sun.

Gravitational force depends on

 Mass of the two objects

Weak gravitational force

Strong gravitational force

 Distance between the two masses

Strong gravitational force

Weak gravitational force

2. Galaxies: There are billions of stars in

most galaxies. Our Sun, solar system is in a huge
galaxy called the Milky Way. It has about 100 billion
stars in it. Many probably have planets. The galaxy
nearest to us is called the Andromeda galaxy, as shown
in the video. Both of these galaxies are spiral galaxies,
with the outer stars orbiting around a very heavy
central mass of stars.

3. The universe: The observable universe is collection of billions of galaxies.

Gravitational Field Strength (g)

Gravitational field Strength is represented by 'g'. Its unit is Netwon/Kilogram. It is the strength or
amount of force with which Earth and other large objects attracts other objects towards themselve.

Earth pulls us and other objects (cars, buildings, books etc) towards its center. The amount with which
Earth pulls an objects towards itself is 10 Newtons per kilogram which is the gravitational strength of
Earth.

As mentioned earlier, Earth is not the only planet that exhibits gravitational force but all objects possess
this force. Sun, all planets, moons, galaxies etc.

Larger and more massive planets have more gravitational

strength than smaller astronomical objects. For example,
moon has "g" value which is only 1.62 while Jupiter pulls
every object towards itself with a strength of about 23
Newtons on every Kilogram.

On Earth, this is always about 10 N/kg, but varies on other

planets. For example, on Mars, g= 3.7 N/kg. This is much
lower than on Earth because Mars has a much lower
mass than Earth.

You do not need to learn all "g" values of for different planets except Earth's which is 10 N/kg.

"g" is caculated by the formula given below.

g = Force / mass

Weight formula, w= m x g; 'g' would be used as gravitational field strength.

Orbits
Comets

Comets are balls of ice and dust in orbit around the Sun. The orbits of comets are different from those of
planets - they are elliptical. A comet's orbit takes it very close to the Sun and then far away again. The
time to complete an orbit varies - some comets
take a few years, while others take millions of
years to complete an orbit

What is a comet?

Comet is a gaint ball of frozen gas and dust

particles.

What is a tail of comet?

When comet comes closer to the Sun, its frozen gases and dust began to vapourize and due to
Sun's radiations these vapours of gas and dust points away from the sun. This vapourizing gas
appear to be tail of the comet.

Moons

Moons are natural satellites that orbit a planet. Many planets have moons, and some planets
have many moons - Saturn has more than 50. The Earth has just one moon - the Moon.

Moons generally travel around planets in a circular orbit. This means that they keep approximately the
same distance from the planet at all times. This is also true of planets as they orbit the Sun. The Earth
stays at approximately the same distance from the Sun all year as it travels around in its orbit.
Asteroids

The Solar System contains smaller objects

called asteroids. These orbit the Sun in
highly elliptical orbits, which are oval or egg-
shaped and may take millions of years to
complete. Asteroids are made of metals and
rocky material. There are large numbers of
asteroids orbiting the Sun in the asteroid belt
between Mars and Jupiter. There are also
many in a region beyond Neptune called the
Kuiper Belt.

Orbit maths
The maths for elliptical orbits is complicated and is not covered in this course. However, for the
circular orbit of moons and planets it is pretty straightforward:
 We know that the distance around one orbit is the circumference of a circle, and equals
2πr from our maths basic knowledge.
 We know that the time taken for one orbit is called the time period. (T) - See section 3.1.
 We know that the speed of an object is :

distance
speed =
time

Therefore we can replace the distance and the time in this formula to give us the speed around
a circular orbit:

Note that there are no units given here and you will need to use some common sense. If a
question gives the radius in kilometers (km) and the time in hours (h), then the speed will
be in units of km/h.
 Questions:
1. The moon orbits the Earth in approximately 708 hours, with a radius of orbit of 385 000 km.
Using the formula given above, calculate the orbital velocity of the Moon.

2. The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) orbits the earth at a speed of 7.6 km/s and has an
orbital time period of 5700 seconds.

a) Using the formula given above, calculate the radius of the HST's orbit from the centre
of the Earth.

b) The Earth has a radius of 6400 km. Calculate the distance from the HST to the Earth's
surface.

3. A rocket launched from the Earth's surface has to escape from the Earth's gravitational
pull. Explain why it might be easier to launch a rocket from the surface of Mars.

4 Explain the difference between the orbit of a comet and of a planet.

Satellites:
Two types of satellites are discussed in our course.

o Geosynchronous Orbiting Satellite

o Polar orbiting Satellite

Geosynchronous/Geostationary Orbiting Satellite:

These satellite orbit at around 36000 Km away from

the surface of Earth.
They move/orbit as same as the rotational speed of
the Earth i.e. 24 hrs per day. That is why they are
called Geosynchronous orbiting or Geostationary
satellites. They appear to stand still.

Therefore, their orbiting speed can be found by using formula given

= (2 x 3.14 x 36000,000) ÷ (24 x 60 x 60)

= 2616.67 m/s

Note: we have kept standard units, and converted kilometers in meters and hours as seconds.

Uses:
It is mostly used for TV, radio and mobile communication. Another extensive use is for GPS
system.
A GPS system comprises of 24 satellites around the orbit.

Polar Orbiting:

These satellites move/orbit around the poles or Earth—North and

South.
The orbit of these satellites are quite close to the Earth's atmospheres.
Uses:
Since they move within the Earth's atmosphere, therefore, they are used for weather prediction
and other useful on ground images which can be used for spying purpose.

Since these satellites move closer to the Earth's surface, they move faster than geostationary
satellites.

1. Mars has a smaller gravitational field

strength than the Earth. This is because...
 A) the mass of Mars is smaller.
 B) the radius of Mars is smaller.
 C) the radius of Mars is larger.
 D) the density of Mars is smaller.

2. Which of the following answers best describes the orbits of

planets, moons and comets?

Nearly circular orbit Elliptical (non-circular) orbit

A. planets moons, comets

B. planets, moons comets

C. comets, moons planets

D. moons comets, planets

3. Which of the following gives the sizes of astronomical objects

in order of increasing size?
 A) Solar system, universe, galaxy.
 B) Universe, galaxy, solar system.
  C) Solar system, galaxy, universe.
 D) Galaxy, solar system, universe.

4. Approximately how many stars are in a typical galaxy?

 A) Hundreds of stars.
 B) thousands of stars.
 C) millions of stars.
 D) billions of stars.

5. What is the name of our own galaxy containing the Sun?

 A) The Andromeda galaxy.
 B) The Milky Way galaxy.
 C) The Orion galaxy.
 D) The Hubble galaxy.

6. Which of these statements is correct?

 A). Planets orbit moons, planets orbit
stars.
 B). Moons orbit planets, stars orbit
planets.
 C). Moons orbit stars, stars orbit
planets.
 D). Moons orbit planets, planets orbit
stars.

7. The formula on the right can be used to

calculate the orbital velocity v of any object.
It can be re-arranged to find the radius of
the orbit.
Which of the following has been correctly
re-aranged?

8. The radius of the Earth's orbit is about 150 million

kilometres. In standard form, and given in metres, this is ..
 A). 1.5 x 108 m
 B). 1.5 x 1010 m
 C). 1.5 x 1011 m
 D). 1.5 x 1012 m

9. The Earth orbits the Sun in 1 year, which is 3.2 x 10 7 seconds.

Using this figure, along with information given in questions 7
and 8, what is the orital velocity of the Earth?
 A). 4.6 x 103 m/s
 B). 29 m/s 103
 C). 4.6 m/s 103
 D). 2.9 x 104 m/s