ASTRONOMY

CHAPTER 2
ORBITS and GRAVITY: ORBITS IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM

Orbits in the Solar System

I. INTRODUCTION
Orbit is the path of an object under the influence of gravity in space. It is important to
determine and calculate the future positions of the object. In this module, you will learn the
terms related to the position of every object in the solar system.

Learning Outcomes:
At the end of the chapter, the students should be able to:

a. Compare the orbital characteristics of the planets in the solar system.

b. Compare the orbital characteristics of asteroids and comets in the solar
system.

II.PRE-COMPETENCY CHECKLIST
Aside from the planets and the sun, what other planets can be found in the solar
system? How do they form?
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III.Learning Resources/Materials
Franknoi, A., Morrison, D., & Wolff, S. (2017). Astronomy. Rice University.
Exploration, N. O. (n.d.). NOAA Ocean Exploration. Retrieved from Predicting the Tides:
https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/edu/learning/player/lesson10/l10la1_c.html
LEARNING, L. (n.d.). LUMEN LEARNING COURSES. Retrieved from ORBITS IN THE SOLAR
SYSTEM: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-astronomy/chapter/orbits-in-the-solar-system/

Any orbit in our solar system has

two points that have unique
designations. The perihelion of the
planet's orbit is where it is nearest to
the Sun (helios in Greek) and
moves the fastest, while the
aphelion is where it is farthest away
and moves the slowest.

Figure 2.3 Perihelion and aphelion point of the

Earth
For the moon or a satellite orbiting Earth, the corresponding terms are perigee and apogee.

Both the earth's orbit around the

sun and the moon's orbit around
the earth are elliptical. Apogee,
the point in the moon's orbit
where it is most distant from the
earth, and perigee, the point at
which it is closest, are both used
interchangeably.

Figure 2.4 Perigee and Apogee of the Moon from

Earth

The distance from the earth to the moon or the sun affect the tides because the mass and
distance of an object affect the force that generates the tide. The tidal force produced by
each will alter as the distance between the earth and the sun or moon changes. The tidal
force causes Earth and its water to bulge out on the side closest to the moon and the side
farthest from the moon. The solar-tidal bulges are about half the size of those caused by the
Moon.

Orbits of the Planets

The average orbital of the eight planets is summarized in Table 2.1

Planet Semimajor Axis Period (y) Eccentricity
(AU)
Mercury 0.39 0.24 0.21
Venus 0.72 0.6 0.01
Earth 1 1.00 0.02
Mars 1.52 1.88 0.09
Ceres (dwarf 2.77 4.6 0.08
planet)
Jupiter 5.20 11.86 0.05
Saturn 9.54 29.46 0.06
Uranus 19.19 84.01 0.05
Neptune 30.06 164.82 0.01

Mercury has the fastest orbital speed, averaging 48 kilometers per second, because
it must have the shortest orbital period (88 Earth days), according to Kepler's laws. On the
other end of the spectrum, Neptune has an orbital period of 165 years and an average
orbital speed of only 5 km/s. All of the planets have relatively low eccentricity orbits. Mercury
has the most eccentric orbit (0.21); the other planets' orbits are all less eccentric than 0.1. It
is fortunate that Mars has a higher eccentricity than many of the other planets among the
rest. Otherwise, Kepler would not have been able to infer that the orbit of Brahe's star was
elliptical rather than circular from his pre-telescopic observations. The planetary orbits are
also tightly bound to a common plane that is close to the ecliptic, the plane of Earth's orbit.
All of the major planets are within 10° of the solar system's common plane despite the odd
orbits of the dwarf planets Pluto and Eris, which circle even further from the Sun than Pluto
and are also inclined to the ecliptic by around 17° and 44°, respectively.

Orbits of the Asteroids and Comets

Aside from the eight planets, sun, and
moon in the solar system, there are two
classes of smaller objects in the orbits:
asteroids and comets. Both asteroids and
comets are believed to be small chunks of
material left over from the formation
process of the solar system.

In the region known as the asteroid belt,

asteroids lie, and these objects have orbits
with smaller semimajor axes than comets.
As you can see in Table 2.1, the asteroid
belt (represented by its largest member,
Ceres) is in the middle of a gap between
the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. It is because
these two planets are so far apart that
stable orbits of small bodies can exist in the
region between them.

Figure 2.5 Solar System Orbits

Comets generally have orbits of larger size and greater eccentricity than those of the
asteroids. Typically, the eccentricity of their orbits is 0.8 or higher. According to Kepler’s
second law, therefore, they spend most of their time far from the Sun, moving very slowly. As
they approach perihelion, the comets speed up and whip through the inner parts of their
orbits more rapidly.

Explore
Answer briefly the following questions.

1. Why do the tides change depend on how far the moon or sun is from the earth?
2. At the apogee or perigee, when will the moon tides be the highest? How often does
each occur?
3. When, at perihelion or aphelion, will solar tides be the highest? How often does each
occur?