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Johannes Kepler
German astronomer (1571 1630)
Spent most of his career tediously
analyzing huge amounts of observational
data (most compiled by Tycho Brahe) on
planetary motion (orbit periods, orbit radii, etc.)
Used his analysis to develop Laws of
planetary motion.
Laws in the sense that they agree
with observation, but not true
theoretical laws, such as Newtons
Laws of Motion & Newtons
Universal Law of Gravitation.
Keplers Laws
Keplers Laws are consistent with & are obtainable from Newtons
Laws
Typical Ellipse
Orbit Examples
Fig. (a): Mercurys orbit has the largest eccentricity of the planets.
eMercury = 0.21
Note: Plutos eccentricity is ePluto = 0.25, but, as of 2006, it is
officially no longer classified as a planet!
r r r
r r
L = r x p = MP r x v = constant
constant
dt 2M p
That is: the radius vector from the Sun to any
planet sweeps out equal areas in equal times
2
radius r, this follows from
r
r
Newtons Universal
2 r
Gravitation.
v
T
This gravitational force
2
3
4
K
r
S
for user in
GMSun
Newtons 2nd Law
Ks is a constant, which
Ks is a constant
is the same for all planets.
3
4
2
3
T
a
K
a
S
GMSun
Ks is independent of the planet mass, & is valid for any
planet
Note: If an object is orbiting another object, the value of
K will depend on the mass of the object being orbited.
For example, for the Moons orbit around the Earth,
KSun is replaced with KEarth, where KEarth is obtained by
replacing MSun by MEarth in the above equation.