Chapter 8, Problem 45P

The asteroid that exploded over Chelyabinsk, Russia, in 2012 (see Application on page 137) was moving at 35.5 km/s relative to the Sun just before it entered Earth’s atmosphere. Calculations based on orbital observations show that it was moving at 11.2 km/s at aphelion (its most distant point from the Sun). Find the distance at aphelion, expressed in astronomical units (1 AU is the average distance of Earth from the Sun; see Appendix E).