- #1
Unto
- 128
- 0
A comet is observed to have a perihelion distance of 0.6Au and a period of 341 years. Calculate it's Aphelion distance. What is the velocity of the comet at Perihelion?
-------------------------------------------------
The first thing I did was remind myself of some important terminology:
Perihelion - closest distance to the sun/star
Aphelion - furthest distance from the sun/star.
What I'm confused is whether Aphelion is the same as the Major Semi-axis or different.. Because I've done allsorts of calculations, and I keep getting a relativistic speed which is just dumb. So my values for Aphelion are all wrong.
How would I calculate Aphelion?
I can directly determine the semi-major axis by using [tex]T^2 = a^3[/tex] and that gives me a value of 48.8AU as the semi major axis. Do I add this to the Perihelion and say that the sum is the furthest distance away from the sun? Or am I missing a crucial piece here?
I even drew a diagram, I have no way of finding the eccentricity of the orbit without Aphelion :-(.
Help please. And lastly for working out the velocity at perihelion, what is 'r' in the equation:
Assuming that 'a' is the semi major axis.
-------------------------------------------------
The first thing I did was remind myself of some important terminology:
Perihelion - closest distance to the sun/star
Aphelion - furthest distance from the sun/star.
What I'm confused is whether Aphelion is the same as the Major Semi-axis or different.. Because I've done allsorts of calculations, and I keep getting a relativistic speed which is just dumb. So my values for Aphelion are all wrong.
How would I calculate Aphelion?
I can directly determine the semi-major axis by using [tex]T^2 = a^3[/tex] and that gives me a value of 48.8AU as the semi major axis. Do I add this to the Perihelion and say that the sum is the furthest distance away from the sun? Or am I missing a crucial piece here?
I even drew a diagram, I have no way of finding the eccentricity of the orbit without Aphelion :-(.
Help please. And lastly for working out the velocity at perihelion, what is 'r' in the equation:
Assuming that 'a' is the semi major axis.