KEPLERS LAWS OF PLANETARY

MOTION

08TL35 ( sec-1)
OUTLINE

► Introduction
► Brief History
► Ellipse And Some Basic Terms
► Kepler’s Laws And Their Explanation
► Conclusion
 Copernicus, Nicholaus (1473-1543)

► Copernicus became interested in astronomy and published an

early description of his "heliocentric" model of the solar system

► The only mistake he made was, he thought all orbits were

circular

► What was a little revolutionary was that Copernicus worked out

his system fully in mathematical form
The Copernican Universe
 Tycho Brahe (1546-1601)

► Brahe compiled extensive data on the planet Mars

► Earth remained at the center, while the planets went around the
Sun, and the Sun circled the Earth.  This system was known as
the Tychonic system. 
Tychonic System
 Johannes Kepler (1571-1630)

► Johanne Kepler believed in the Copernican system

► He used the data collected by Tycho Brahe on the Planet Mars

► Kepler succeeded in discovering that the orbit of Mars was

inclined to the Earth's by a constant angle of 1' 50"

► Kepler's next task was to trace the shape of the planets' orbit
without any preconception as to what it might be
 Ellipse
Major Axis = 2a
2a

e e
Aphelion Perihelion
Sun

E = e/a
 Kepler’s Laws

► Kepler's laws were empirical laws; that is, they were based on
observations and not on any underlying theory of how the solar
system worked.

► It wasn't until Isaac Newton came along and derived the force of
gravity that Kepler's Laws gained a physical meaning.
► “I first believed I was dreaming… But it is absolutely certain and
exact that the ratio which exists between the periodic times of
any two planets is precisely the ratio of the 3/2th power of the
mean distance.”

( By Kepler 1619)
 Kepler’s First
Law
► planet’s orbit the Sun in
ellipses, with the Sun at one
focus.
► the eccentricity of the ellipse,
e, tells you how elongated it is.
► e=0 is a circle, e<1 for all
ellipses

e=0.02 e=0.4 e=0.7

► Earth’s orbit has an eccentricity of 0.017
(nearly circular)

► Pluto’s orbit has an eccentricity of 0.253

(the largest in our solar system)

► Satellites also follow Kepler’s laws

 Eccentricity of the planets

Mercury 0.206 Saturn 0.054

Venus 0.007 Uranus 0.048

Earth 0.017 Neptune 0.007

Mars 0.094 Pluto 0.253

Jupiter 0.048
 Kepler’s Second Law

► The line joining the Sun and a planet sweeps out equal areas in
equal time intervals.

► As a result, planets move fastest when they are near the Sun
(Perihelion) and slowest when they are far from the Sun
(Aphelion). This is because conservation of specific mechanical
energy i.e: E = K.E + P.E
 Kepler's Second Law Explanation

A line connecting the Sun and a planet sweeps out equal areas in equal times.

slower faster

Translation: planets move faster when closer to the Sun.

 Kepler's Third Law

The orbital period of an orbit depends upon the altitude of the orbit
OR
The square of a planet's orbital period is proportional to the cube of its
semi-major axis.

P2 is proportional to a3

or

P2 (in Earth years) = a3 (in A.U.)

1 A.U. = 1.5 x 108 km

Translation: The further the planet is from the sun, the longer the
period.
► Low Earth Orbit 90 minutes, 186 miles

► Geosynchronous 24 hours, 22,236 miles

► Moon 28 days, 238,330 miles

P1, P2 are orbital periods of any two
planets and a1, a2 are the lengths of
semi-major-axis of each planet
respectively.
2 3
P a

1
2
1
3
= Constant

P 2 a 2