Sect. 13.

3: Keplers Laws & Planetary Motion

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

Keplers First Law

All planets move in elliptical orbits with the Sun at one focus

Keplers Second Law

The radius vector drawn from the Sun to a planet sweeps out
equal areas in equal time intervals

Keplers Third Law

The square of the orbital period of any planet is proportional to
the cube of the semimajor axis of the elliptical orbit

Math Review: Ellipses

The points F1 & F2 are each a focus
of the ellipse
Located a distance c from the center
Sum of r1 and r2 is constant

Longest distance through center is

the major axis, 2a
a is called the semimajor axis

Shortest distance through center is

the minor axis, 2b
b is called the semiminor axis

Typical Ellipse

The eccentricity is defined as e = (c/a)

For a circle, e = 0
The range of values of the eccentricity for ellipses is 0 < e < 1
The higher the value of e, the longer and thinner the ellipse

Ellipses & Planet Orbits

The Sun is at one focus
Nothing is located at the other focus

Aphelion is the point farthest away from the Sun

The distance for aphelion is a + c
For an orbit around the Earth, this point is called the apogee

Perihelion is the point nearest the Sun

The distance for perihelion is a c
For an orbit around the Earth, this point is called the
perigee

Keplers 1st Law

All planets move in elliptical orbits
with the Sun at one focus
A circular orbit is a special case of an elliptical orbit
The eccentricity of a circle is e = 0.
Keplers 1st Law can be shown (& was by Newton) to be a direct result of
the inverse square nature of the gravitational force. Comes out of Ns 2 nd
Law + Ns Gravitation Law + Calculus

Elliptic (and circular) orbits are allowed for bound objects

A bound object repeatedly orbits the center
An unbound object would pass by and not return
These objects could have paths that are parabolas
(e = 1) and hyperbolas (e > 1)

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!

Fig. (b): Halleys Comets orbit has high eccentricity

eHalleys comet = 0.97

Remember that nothing physical is located at the second focus
The small dot

Keplers 2nd Law

The radius vector drawn from the Sun
to a planet sweeps out equal areas in
equal time intervals

Keplers 2nd Law can be shown (&

to be a direct result of
the fact that Ns Gravitation Law
gives Conservation of Angular
Momentum for each planet.
The Gravitational force produces no
torque (it is to the motion) so that
Angular Momentum is Conserved:
was by Newton)

r r r
r r
L = r x p = MP r x v = constant

Keplers 2nd Law

Geometrically, in a time dt,
the radius vector r sweeps
out the area dA = half the
area of the parallelogram
The displacement is dr = v dt
L
Mathematically, this means dA

constant
dt 2M p
That is: the radius vector from the Sun to any
planet sweeps out equal areas in equal times

Keplers 3rd Law

The square of the orbital period T of any
planet is proportional to the cube of the
semimajor axis a of the elliptical orbit

If the orbit is circular & of

GMSunMPlanet MPlanetv 2

2
radius r, this follows from
r
r
Newtons Universal
2 r
Gravitation.
v
T
This gravitational force
2

3
4

supplies a centripetal force

2
3
T
r

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.

Keplers 3rd Law

Can be shown that this also applies to an elliptical orbit
with replacement of r with a, where a is the semimajor
axis.
2

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.

Solar System Data

Table 13-2, p. 370

Weighing the Sun!

Weve weighed the Earth, now lets weigh the Sun!! Assume: Earth
& Sun are perfect uniform spheres. & Earth orbit is a perfect circle.
Note: For Earth, Mass ME = 5.99 1024kg

Orbit period is T = 1 yr 3 107 s

Orbit radius r = 1.5 1011 m
So, orbit velocity is v = (2r/T), v 3 104 m/s
Gravitational Force between Earth & Sun: Fg = G[(MSME)/r2]
Circular orbit is circular centripetal acceleration
Newtons 2nd Law gives: F = Fg = MEa = MEac = ME(v2)/r
OR: G[(MSME)/r2] = ME(v2)/r. If the Sun mass is unknown, solve for it:

MS = (v2r)/G 2 1030 kg 3.3 105 ME