ipl-logo

Mercury Rotational Case Study

531 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: State Kepler’s three laws in your own words

1. The relationship between Mercury’s rotational period and orbital period is a resonance. This results from the Sun’s tidal force on Mercury and its very elliptical orbit. The sun cannot lock Mercury into a 1:1 rotation due to Mercury’s high eccentricity. Mercury takes 59 Earth days to rotate and and 88 days to orbit so it spins three times for every two orbital periods.

2. The current atmosphere of Mars is mainly CO2 (95%), N2 (3%), oxygen, and water. The atmosphere’s density is 1% of Earth atmospheric density. The lack of atmosphere and proximity to the Sun makes the planets cold. The high temperature is lower than it is on Earth. and the night temperatures drop around 218K. The evidence that suggests Mars’ atmosphere has changed is found on its surface. There are smooth areas that look like old beaches near the edges of craters. However, currently there is not water running on Mars. This leaves scientist to believes oceans …show more content…

Kepler’s third law modified by Newton is T^2(Me+Mm)= D^3. T is the orbital period in years and D is the distance between the Earth and Moon in AU. Me is the Mass of the Earth and Mm is the mass of the moon. Then I set Me+Mm=Mt. Mt is the total mass of the Earth and Moon combined. So, T^2(Mt)=D^3. I then divided both sides by T^2 so the equation became Mt=(D^3)/T^2. Then I plugged in the given numbers to the equation. Mt= (0.0027^3)/(0.08^2). So, Mt = 3.08 x 10^(-6). The sum of the masses is approximately equal to the mass of the Earth with respect to the Sun. Therefore, the Earth is about 3.1x10^(-6) solar masses relative to the Sun.

6. As the Voyager spacecraft penetrated into the outer solar system, the illumination from the Sun declined. Relative to the situation at Earth, how bright is the sunlight is lower each of the jovian planets. Since the Sun is further away from each planet, the sunlight decreases. Voyager had to take longer exposers when photographing Neptune. The sunlight at Neptune is 900 times weaker than it is at

Show More
Related
205 Words | 1 Pages

I learned about my POC was that since I have converted the equation to exponential form, it made this problem a few steps easier now that the only thing that I need is to get t only; the only variable in the equation. The converted equation is (t-1)^2 lne = e^3; at first, Kirby thought that it was easy and try to help me, but in result, when Mr.Marshall came by, he told that "lne" can be cancel out because "lne" is equal to 1, so wouldn't make any changes in the equation at all. Next, I square root both side after he told me to cancel out the "lne" and got t-1= e^3. I added 1 to both side and I got t=

Read More
718 Words | 3 Pages

This goes hand in hand with Newton's Laws of motion and universal gravitation. Newton's law of universal gravitation states that a particle attracts every other particle in the universe using a gravitational force and Newton's law of motion states that every object will remain at rest or in uniform motion in a straight line unless compelled to change its state by the action of an external force. Newton's Laws back up Kepler's laws by explaining how the planets orbit is an ellipse with the Sun at one of the two foci or center. The force that allows this to happen to the planets are explained by Newton's law and that the gravitational force is moving the planets into rotation, as by the law of motion. These forces assisting each other can make phenomenon's occur such as tides.

Read More
472 Words | 2 Pages

In addition, to account for the idea that a star may appear fainter because it is further away, Leavitt stated that because all the Cepheid variables were in the Small Magellanic Cloud, it can be assumed that they are all nearly at the same distance from Earth. Therefore, a Cepheid Variable’s apparent brightness

Read More
332 Words | 2 Pages

Also, if a planet is smaller than not even the biggest moon

Read More
2484 Words | 10 Pages

The Martian Chronicles written by Ray Bradbury has many different types of stories that all revolve around each other and each are based upon the same idea. They are based upon Earth becoming a place where people no longer want to live and how they expand to the planet Mars to live. In his stories Ray Bradbury shows the dark side of life in many different ways. He uses the theme of change, the imagery of fire and dryness, the fear created from isolation and sadness and the greed humans to show the dark side of life. Some of Ray Bradbury’s stories show the dark side of life in different ways.

Read More
259 Words | 2 Pages

One of the reasons Pluto isn’t a planet is because of its size. If Pluto isn’t a planet then Jupiter shouldn’t be a planet. This proves that planets shouldn’t be based on a size. Based on my logic, Pluto orbits the sun. If it wasn’t a planet it wouldn’t orbit the sun because all the other planets orbit the sun and Pluto does.

Read More
545 Words | 3 Pages

While Earth 's atmosphere works as a buffer, keeping the planet at just the right temperature, the atmosphere on Venus is so thick that it traps most of the heat from the sun, resulting in extreme temperature variations on the surface. Made of carbon dioxide, nitrogen,

Read More
554 Words | 3 Pages

During the Middle Ages a Roman Astronomer named Ptolemy came up with the theory that all surrounding planets orbited around the Earth. Advancement in telescopes and technology helped Copernicus during the renaissance create a more logical and accurate theory which stated how the sun is in the middle of our universe and all planets orbited the sun. This changed the way man thought because it realized how small Earth is compared to the rest of the solar system and how we may not be

Read More
514 Words | 3 Pages

Pluto is a dwarf planet that is located in the Kuiper belt. It was the first object to be found in the Kuiper belt. If you were to look into the night sky and find the constellation of Sagittarius, Pluto is located in about the center of it. Originally considered a planet when it was found by Clyde Tombaugh and named by Venetia Burney. Pluto is named after the Roman god of the Underworld.

Read More
674 Words | 3 Pages

In the winter, Mars can get to -195 degrees Fahrenheit near the poles. Mars is composed of: Carbon Dioxide, 95.32%, Nitrogen, 2.7%, Argon, 1.6%, Oxygen 0.13%, and Carbon Monoxide, 0.08%. The weather on Mars is highly

Read More
768 Words | 4 Pages

The gravitational pull of Saturn and its moons on the ring particles causes some interesting patterns to form in the rings and these patterns are so called “waves” which are really tightly-wound spirals. The gravitational pull of both Saturn and its moon form two types of waves normally on the rings which are "spiral density waves", and "spiral bending waves" (as per the location of the moon around the rings). Now scientist and researchers are focusing their study toward Saturn’s rings and its moons. This research may help to predict the presence of rings and the source of ice in the rings. This can also explain about the formation of rings around other planets like Uranus, Jupiter and Neptune, and distant asteroids Chiron and Chariklo.

Read More
1756 Words | 8 Pages

Today virtually every child grows up learning that the Earth orbits the Sun, but four centuries ago the heliocentric solar system, where the Earth orbits the Sun, was so controversial that the Catholic Church classified it as a crime of heresy (UCLA). In the age of early philosophy, Socrates’ is well known. Between the Socratic method and his line of successful students, Socrates’ makes the history books. Galileo Galilei turned astronomers on their heads when he discovered moons around Jupiter. Giordano Bruno didn’t back down from any of his brilliant and different ideas.

Read More
1526 Words | 7 Pages

Kelsey Irwin Mr. Corso Astronomy period 5 16 January 2018 Venus The Earth and Venus only have a difference in diameter of six hundred thirty eight kilometer. Venus has eighty one and a half percent of the Earth’s mass. Both Earth and Venus also have a central iron core, a molten rocky mantle and a silicate crust (Venus Facts - Interesting Facts about Planet Venus). “Venus is such a special planet because it is known as Earth’s twin.

Read More
828 Words | 4 Pages

Juan Anton D. de los Reyes Ph.157.4A Aristotle’s initial model of the universe was that of a gigantic sphere, of which the earth is the core. Other spheres circumscribe the earth, and, with the exception of the innermost sublunary circles, these rotate in the westward direction of the outermost sphere, returning to their original angles in a span of twenty-four hours. The sublunary circles, in increasing proximity from the earth, are comprised of the Greek elements of water, air, and fire. The fourth to ninth circles contain the planets Moon, Sun, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn, respectively. The outermost circle, called the primum mobile, carries the stars and the other heavenly bodies.

Read More
639 Words | 3 Pages

From creating the very first telescope to taking a picture of the entire solar system from 6 billion kilometers away, humanity has made tremendous progress involving space exploration. Some people predict that the 21st century will be an age of religion, the age of robots, the age of the destruction of mankind, but I have much larger plans for the future. I believe that it is human 's destiny to explore and expand all throughout our solar system, and even beyond. There is no ignoring the fact that humanity is advancing its knowledge of space at an extremely rapid pace.

Read More

More about Mercury Rotational Case Study

Related Topics

Open Document