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Tycho Brahe (1546-1630) best observer of his day Made most accurate measurements of his time. Tycho’s Observatory at Uraniborg. He developed new instruments and new techniques for conducting observations. Kepler used his observations to derive his laws of planetary orbits.
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Tycho Brahe (1546-1630) best observer of his day Made most accurate measurements of his time
Tycho’s Observatory at Uraniborg • He developed new instruments and new techniques for conducting observations. • Kepler used his observations to derive his laws of planetary orbits. • It was the precision of Brahe's observations that enabled Kepler to determine that the orbits of the planet’s are ellipses with the Sun at one focus.
Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) Developed three laws of planetary motion. Was able to describe how the planets moved.
Eccentricity (e) is a number between 0 and 1 that tells you how elliptical an orbit is. Some sample eccentricities: Earth’s orbit: e = 0.017 (only slightly off-circular)Pluto’s orbit: e = 0.248 (more elliptical)Halley’s comet: 0.967 (very elliptical)
Kepler’s second law: Planets sweep out equal areas in equal times -means planets orbit at varying speeds, faster closer to sun, slower further from sun (Kepler didn’t know why)
Kepler’s Third Law: Kepler found a simple relationship between a planet’s orbital period (P) and its average distance from the Sun (A) P2Planet = A3Planet P = period of planet’s revolution in years A = average distance of planet from sun in A.U.
Solar System • note: Uranus, • Neptune & Pluto were • discovered much later • (during 1800-1900s) • with advent of more • powerful telescopes • presence predicted
Isaac Newton (1642 – 1727) developed laws for physical matter
Law of INERTIA person moving at a constant speed car stops but person keeps moving
Newton’s Second Law: When forces act on a body, they change the (speed & direction) motion of the body: acceleration, deceleration Velocity – rate of motion (speed: 35 mph; 5 m/s) with direction Acceleration – rate of change of motion (could be speed or direction!) F = m * a Gravity causes an acceleration!
Newton’s Third Law • For every action (force) there is an equal and opposite reaction (force)
Newton’s Laws explain that something must be acting on the planets to keep them in orbit According to the law of inertia planets should fly off in a straight line
What determines how strong the force of gravity is ? Mass of object (being acted on) Mass of object (acting on) Distance between them!
Newton’s Law of Universal Gravitation Two bodies attract each other with a force that is proportional to the mass of each body and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them. Where the gravitational constant G = 6.67 · 10-11 N m2/kg2 and r is the distance between the objects with masses m1 and m2.
M Newton’s law of gravitation for the Solar System m r Example: What if you discovered a planet TWICE as far from the Sun as the Earth – how would its gravitational pull compare to Earth’s? Mis the mass of the Sun m is the mass of a planet (i.e., Earth) r is the distance between them
Is there gravity beyond the Earth’s surface? “weightless” : not beyond influence of gravity • treat astronaut as any other orbiting body • Earth’s pull is what keeps astronaut in orbit • feels ‘weightless’ because she and spacecraft are experiencing • gravity together