Horizons: Exploring the Universe (MindTap Course List)
14th Edition
ISBN: 9781305960961
Author: Michael A. Seeds, Dana Backman
Publisher: Cengage Learning
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Textbook Question
Chapter 19, Problem 9P
What is the orbital period of a comet nucleus in the Oort cloud? What is its orbital velocity? (Hints. Use Kepler’s third law in Chapter 4, section 3. The circumference of a circular orbit is
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There is one part to this question. I need to know the days. Thank you!
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You observe a comet 0.32 AU from Earth with a tail that is 1.7 degrees long. How long is the tail in AU?
How long is the tail in kilometers?
How many times could the U.S. fit along the length of the tail? (The width of the U.S. is 4,313 km.)
Part 1 of 3
You observe a comet 0.32 AU from Earth with a tail that is 1.7 degrees long. How long is the tail in AU?
We use the small angle formula to calculate the length of the tail in AU.
arc seconds d
Ꮎ
2.06 x 105
D
Solving for the linear distance gives:
dAU = DAU
dAU =
=
AU
arc seconds
2.06 x 105
The mass of an average comet's nucleus is about 1.0 x 1014
kg. If the Oort cloud contains 2.0 x 101 comet nuclei, what is the mass of the cloud in
units of Earth masses? (Note: Earth's mass is 5.97 x 1024 kg.)
M.
Compare that with Saturn's mass. (Note: Saturn's mass in units of Earth's mass is 95.2 M.)
mass of the Oort cloud
mass of Saturn
Chapter 19 Solutions
Horizons: Exploring the Universe (MindTap Course List)
Ch. 19 - What do Widmanst?tten patterns indicate about the...Ch. 19 - What do chondrules tell you about the history of...Ch. 19 - Why are there no chondrules in achondritic...Ch. 19 - Why do astronomers refer to carbonaceous...Ch. 19 - Prob. 5RQCh. 19 - Prob. 6RQCh. 19 - Why do astronomers think the asteroids were never...Ch. 19 - Prob. 8RQCh. 19 - What evidence indicates that some asteroids have...Ch. 19 - What evidence indicates that some asteroids have...
Ch. 19 - Prob. 11RQCh. 19 - What is the difference between a gas tail and a...Ch. 19 - Prob. 13RQCh. 19 - What are the hypotheses for how the bodies in the...Ch. 19 - Prob. 15RQCh. 19 - Prob. 1DQCh. 19 - Do you think the government should spend money to...Ch. 19 - Prob. 1PCh. 19 - If a single asteroid 1 km in diameter were to be...Ch. 19 - If a trillion (1012) asteroids, each 1 km in...Ch. 19 - Prob. 4PCh. 19 - What is the maximum angular diameter of the...Ch. 19 - Prob. 6PCh. 19 - Prob. 7PCh. 19 - Prob. 8PCh. 19 - What is the orbital period of a comet nucleus in...Ch. 19 - The mass of an average comet’s nucleus is about...Ch. 19 - Prob. 1LTLCh. 19 - Prob. 2LTLCh. 19 - Prob. 3LTL
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- What is the orbital period of a comet nucleus at the inner edge of the Oort Cloud? What is its orbital velocity? Assume a circular orbit. (Hint: Use Keplers third law, Eq. 4-1) (Note: The circumference of a circle is 2r.)arrow_forwardHow do the risks of dying from the impact of an asteroid or comet compare with other risks we are concerned about, such as dying in a car accident or from heart disease or some other natural cause? (Hint: To find the annual risk, go to the library or internet and look up the annual number of deaths from a particular cause in a particular country, and then divide by the population of that country.)arrow_forwardWhat evidence indicates that a comets nucleus is rich in ices?arrow_forward
- What is the average distance of Comet Halley from the Sun? Approximately when will Comet Halley comet next reach aphelion? Perihelion?arrow_forwardWe believe that chains of comet fragments like Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9’s have collided not only with the jovian planets, but occasionally with their moons. What sort of features would you look for on the outer planet moons to find evidence of such collisions? (As an extra bonus, can you find any images of such features on a moon like Callisto? You can use an online site of planetary images, such as the Planetary Photojournal, at photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov.)arrow_forwardRefer to Example 13.1. How would the calculation change if a typical comet in the Oort cloud is larger-say, 50 km in diameter?arrow_forward
- There is one part to this question. I need to know the km. Thank you!arrow_forwardAt what average distances (in AU) from the Sun would you expect to find Kirkwood gaps where the orbital period of asteroids are respectively four-ninths, and two-fifths, of the orbital period of Jupiter? (Hint: use Kepler's third law.) inner gap at AU outer gap at AU Compare your results with the figure. 7:2 3:1 8,3 5;2 7:3 9:4 2;1 9:5 7:4 53 8:5 3:2 Resonances Gap Gap Gap Gap GapGap Gap Distance from sun (AU) O The results agree with the figure. O The results do not agree with the figure.arrow_forwardAt what average distances (in AU) from the Sun would you expect to find Kirkwood gaps where the orbital period of asteroids are respectively four-ninths, and three-sevenths, of the orbital period of Jupiter? (Hint: use Kepler's third law.) Compare your results with the figure.arrow_forward
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