ASTRONOMY

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.

Moons are natural objects that orbit a planet.

Their motion is determined by gravitational forces. They are non-luminous.
The Earths moon is approximately 400 000km from the Earth and has a
mass and a surface gravity of about one sixth that of the earth.
The moon has no atmosphere and its surface covered by craters caused by
the impacts of meteorites.
It takes the moon 29.5 days(1 lunar month) to orbit the Earth. The moon
spins on its own axis, but much slower than the Earth turns. It completes 1
full rotation every 29.5 days.
The moon keeps the same part of its surface facing the Earth because it
takes same time to complete one orbit as it takes for 1 complete rotation.
Comets.
A comet is a celestial body consisting of nucleus of ice and dust, that
occupies a highly elongated orbit.
When the comet passes close to the Sun some of the comets frozen gases
evaporate. These form a long tail that shines in the sunlight.
Comets are most visible and travel quickest when close to the Sun. Orbits are
elliptic, and comets are usually extreme example of that: very elongated
ellipses.
When far from the sun, at the apex of their orbit, the gravity from the sun is
low, and orbital motion is thus done at a slow pace. Then as the comet gets
closer to the sun, it picks up speed -- it is literally falling towards the sun -- so
travels much faster on its orbit.
The other reason is the trade between kinetic and gravitational potential
energy. Since the comet does not gain or lose any energy in its orbit, all it
can do is turn some energy (potential, from the height or distance from the
sun) into another (kinetic, from the speed it travels at) in one part of the
orbit, and reverse the process when moving away from the sun
Comets are approximately 1-30km in diameter.
Example is Halleys comet last seen in 1986 and visits our part of the solar
system ever 76 years,and is due to return in 2061.

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

Differences between asteroids and Comets.

Asteroids Comets

1.Made up of metals and rocky 1.Made of ice and dust.

materials

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.

4.Have shorter,more circular orbits 4.Have extended and elongated

and they seem to want to group orbits.
together in belts.
5.There are millions of asteroids 5.There are only 3572 known
some as small as dust particles. comets.

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.

Geostationary satellites must have orbits that:

- take 24 hours to complete
- circle in the same direction as the Earths spin
- are above the equator
- orbit at a height of about 36 000 km
-stays exactly above one point on the Earth thus allowing people to send and
receive signals 24 hours a day without worrying about where the satellite
might be in relation to the earth.
Uses of communication satellites include satellite TV and some weather
satellites.
Astronomical Models.
1. Earth-centred Model.
It proposed that the earth was the centre of the universe and other
astronomical bodies moved around it.
It was proposed by an Egyptian astronomer called Ptolemy in 150 AD.
2. Heliocentric System (Sun-centred model).
In 1530, Nicolai Copernicus suggested that the sun was the centre of the
universe with planets moving in circular orbits around the sun.
Johannes Kepler suggested that the orbits of the planets are elliptical and
not circular.
In 1687,Isacc Newton put forward a theory of gravity that explained the
movements of the planets in the solar system and how the stars and the
solar system were formed.

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 .

Time period(T) is the time taken for one complete orbit.

orbital speed = (2 x orbital radius) / time period
v = (2 x r ) / T
orbital speed in metres per second (m/s)
orbital radius in metres (m)
time period in seconds (s)
Examples.
1. Calculate the orbital speed of the Earth around the Sun. (Earth orbital
radius = 150 million km)
v = (2 x r ) / T
= (2 x [150 000 000 km] ) / [1 year]
but 1 year = (365 x 24 x 60 x 60) seconds
= 31 536 000 s
 and 150 000 000 km = 150 000 000 000 metres
v = (2 x [150 000 000 000] ) / [31 536 000]
orbital speed = 29 900 m/s

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.

The universe is mainly an empty space within which are scattered

large galaxies.
The distances between galaxies are millions of times greater than the
distances between stars within a galaxy.
The distances between the stars in a galaxy are millions of times
greater than the distancse between planets and the sun.

Choose appropriate words to fill in the gaps below:

The ___________ is made up of billions of galaxies which consist of
__________ of stars bound to each other by the force of ___________.
The name of our _________ is The Milky Way. The ______ is located
towards the outer edge of our galaxy.
The are different types of galaxy; ________, barred-spiral, elliptical and
irregular. The Milky Way is a ____________ galaxy. The _____________
Galaxy is the nearest spiral galaxy to the Milky Way.
WORD SELECTION: