5-Planetary Motion Lab KDA
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School
Oakland Community College *
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Course
1580
Subject
Astronomy
Date
Feb 20, 2024
Type
Pages
2
Uploaded by AmbassadorOxideHerring40
Kevin Adriaens
GSC1580
February 5, 2024
Part A: Planetary Motion
5.
Set the sky in motion by advancing the time in minutes. Watch the stars and the planets move. Describe how the stars and planets move in the sky. Use compass positions to describe the direction of motion.
With the compass position on the left and the sky in motion, the planets and stars move from the east to the west. They follow the path of the ecliptic line.
7.
Advance the time in days. Watch the sky move. Do all of the objects on the ecliptic move with the motion of the stars? Yes, all of the objects on the ecliptic move but the Moon and Mercury make significant moves in an upwardly east direction. I noticed that when you increase the time by the hour, the objects move in a westerly direction. When you decrease the time by the hour, the objects move in an easterly direction.
Describe each of their individual motions. Use compass positions in your description.
While all the objects move when you adjust the time in days, the Moon and Mercury move the most in an easterly direction. The other objects like Uranus, Jupiter, Saturn, Venus, Mars, and the Sun orbit on the ecliptic line. 9.
Advance time in increments of days and watch Mercury over a period of years. Describe Mercury's motion. Estimate the amount of time (in days) it takes Mercury to orbit the Sun just once.
While all the objects move when you adjust the time in days, the Moon and Mercury move the most in an easterly direction. The other objects like Uranus, Jupiter, Saturn, Venus, Mars, and the Sun orbit on the ecliptic line. It takes Mercury about 35 days to orbit the sun once.
Part B: Satellite Motions
4.
Advance the time in minutes and watch the motion of Europa and Io and stop the time right when they both vanish behind Jupiter. At what time does Europa and Io just vanish behind Jupiter?
When advancing the time by the minutes, Europa and Io vanish behind Jupiter at about 22:30.
5.
Continue to advance in minutes until both Europa and Io just reappear above Jupiter. At what time does Europa and Io reappear? When advancing the time by the minutes, Europa and Io reappear at about 00:47.
6.
How long was Europa and Io behind Jupiter?
Europa and Io where behind Jupiter for about 2 hours 17 minutes.
7.
Reset the date to the next night 2022-11-01 and time back to 20:00:00. Are Europa and Io as close to each other as the previous night at this time? Explain where they are located. No, Europa and Io are far apart on October 31, 2022, at 20:00:00 to the left (east) of the planet Jupiter. Io is closet to the planet Jupiter. Europa is significantly to the east of the planet Jupiter.
8.
Zoom in on Jupiter until it fills the screen and Io is pretty visible. Advance the time in minutes and watch Io. Describe what you see happening on Jupiter as Io moves across it. What do you think you are seeing?
Io’s orbit is influenced by the gravitational interactions with Jupiter and the other Galilean moons, specifically, Europa and Ganymede. The orbit of Io is almost circular.
9.
Zoom out a little and see if you can locate some of the other moon's of Jupiter (other than Ganymede, Io, Europa, and Callisto) by clicking around on some of the star looking objects near Jupiter. List at least two moons and give the Magnitude, Distance, Radius, Ra/Dec, Az/Alt. Phase and Visibility listed in the information box for each.
Amalthea
Himalia
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