General astronomy

General astronomy

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General astronomy

Kepler's 1st law

Astronomy; General astronomy

orbits are ellipses with the central object at one focus (not the center!). There is nothing at the other focus.

a line between the satellite and the central object sweeps out equal areas in equal intervals of time. A satellite moves faster when it is closer to the massive body it orbits and moves slower when ...

Kepler's 3rd law

Astronomy; General astronomy

for an object in an elliptical orbit around a massive body, the square of the orbital period is proportional to the cube of the average distance of the orbiting object from the massive body. The ...

Kuiper Belt

Astronomy; General astronomy

a disk of comets beyond Neptune's orbit (or 30 to 100+ A.U.) that orbit roughly in the same plane as the planets. Many of the short period comets come from the Kuiper Belt.

latitude

Astronomy; General astronomy

used to specify position on the Earth, it is the number of degrees north or south of the Earth's equator.

law of gravity

Astronomy; General astronomy

(Newton's): the force of mutual attraction between two objects = G×(mass #1) × (mass #2) / (distance between the objects)2. The term G is a universal constant of nature that always = 6.672× 10-11 ...