Surname 1

Student’s Name

Professor’s Name

Course

Date

Astronomy

1. Planet with orbital period similar to that of Earth.

The planet with similar orbital period to that of earth that I chose is HD 38283 b. This

planet was discovered on 4th November 2011 through radial discovery method. The star has an

orbital period of 362.3 (± 1.6) days which is very close and thus similar to that of earth. The

semi-major axis of this planet’s orbit is 1.02 (± 0.07) AU. The semi-major axis of this planet’s

orbit is not 1AU and thus its mass is different from that of the sun. The mass of this star is 0.34

(± 0.02) MJ whereas its orbital eccentricity is 0.41.

2. Star with multiple planets

Some planetary bodies (stars) are made up of multiple planets. The star with multiple

planets that I chose is HD 219134 which has a total of 7 planets. These planets are HD 219134 c,

HD 219134 b, HD 219134 d, HD 219134 f, HD 219134 h, HD 219134 e, and HD 219134 g.

Below is a verification that Kepler’s third law applies for three of the planets;

 For HD 219134 c;

0.000343534 years
P2/A3 = = 1.4414335517
0.000238328 AU

 For HD 219134 b;

0.000071821 years
P2/A3 = = 1.417902197
0.000050653 AU

 For HD219134 d;
 Surname 2

0.016376987 years
P2/A3 = = 1.437760176
0.011390625 AU

From the values of P2/A3 above, Kepler’s third law is proven showing that the planets

belong to the same start as they have almost similar value of approximately 1.4. Most of the 7

planets have an orbital eccentricity of 0 which depicts a circular orbit while two of the planets,

that is HD 219134 h and HD 219134 e have an orbital eccentricity that is greater than 0 but less

than 1 thus depicting an elliptic orbit.