6.1.

4 Orbiting Bodies

Light Speed

• The planets and moons of the solar system are visible from Earth when they reflect light from the Sun
o The outer regions of the Solar System are around 5 × 1012 m from the Sun, which means even
light takes some time to travel these distances
• The Sun is so far away from Earth that the light we see actually left the Sun eight minutes earlier
o the nearest star to us after the Sun is so far away that light from it takes four years to reach us
o The Milky Way galaxy contains billions of stars, huge distances away, with the light taking
even longer to be seen from Earth

• The speed of light is a constant 3 × 108 m/s

o Therefore, using the equation:

o The time taken to travel a certain distance can be calculated by rearranging to:

Elliptical Orbits
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• Orbits of planets, minor planets and comets are elliptical

o An ellipse is just a 'squashed' circle
• Planets, minor planets and comets have elliptical orbits
o However, the Sun is not at the centre of an elliptical orbit
o This is only the case when the orbit is approximately circular
• In an elliptical orbit, the Sun is not at the centre of the orbit
o However, in a circular orbit, the Sun is at the centre

Planets and comets travel in elliptical orbits, but the Sun is not at the centre of these orbits
EXTENDED

• Over many years, data about all the planets, moons and the Sun have been collected
• This is not just for general interest, but to indicate:
o Factors that affect conditions on the surface of the planets
o Environmental problems that a visit (using manned spaceships or robots) would encounter

Table of Data for Planets in our Solar System

Orbital Uniform Surface

Orbital duration / Surface
Planet distance / Density / kg/m3 Gravitational Field
days or years Temperature/ °C
million km Strength/ N/kg

Mercury 57.9 88 days 5427 350 3.7

Venus 108.2 225 days 5243 460 8.9
Earth 149.6 365 days 5514 20 9.8
Mars 227.9 687 days 3933 –23 3.7
Jupiter 778.6 11.9 years 1326 –120 23.1
Saturn 1433.5 29.5 years 687 –180 9.0
Uranus 2872.5 75 years 1271 –210 8.7
Neptune 4495.1 165 years 1638 –220 11.0

• There are some common themes from the data of the planets is:
• Orbital duration (how long it takes to travel around the Sun) increases with orbital distance (distance
from the Sun)
o The circular path that the planet's travel in has a larger radius
• Orbital duration increases with orbital distance
o E.g. Neptune travels much slower than Mercury
o The planets further away from the Sun experience a weaker gravitational pull, so move slower
in their orbit
• Surface temperature decreases with orbital distance except for Venus
o Venus has a dense atmosphere of carbon dioxide, trapping in heat through the greenhouse
effect
• The surface gravitational field strength doesn't just depend on a planet's size, but also its mass
o This is why although Uranus is 4 times larger than Earth, it has a smaller gravitational field
strength because it is less dense
6.1.5 Gravitational Effects on Orbits

Gravitational Field Strength

• The strength of gravity on different planets after an object's weight on that planet
• Weight is defined as:

The force acting on an object due to gravitational attraction

• Planets have strong gravitational fields

o Hence, they attract nearby masses with a strong gravitational force
• Because of weight:
o Objects stay firmly on the ground
o Objects will always fall to the ground
o Satellites are kept in orbit

Objects are attracted towards the centre of the Earth due to its gravitational field strength

• Both the weight of any body and the value of the gravitational field strength g differs between the
surface of the Earth and the surface of other bodies in space, including the Moon because of the
planet or moon's mass
o The greater the mass of the planet then the greater its gravitational field strength
o A higher gravitational field strength means a larger attractive force towards the centre of that
planet or moon
• g varies with the distance from a planet, but on the surface of the planet, it is roughly the same
o The strength of the field around the planet decreases as the distance from the planet increases
• However, the value of g on the surface varies dramatically for different planets and moons

• The gravitational field strength (g) on the Earth is approximately 10 N/kg

• The gravitational field strength on the surface of the Moon is less than on the Earth
 o This means it would be easier to lift a mass on the surface of the Moon than on the Earth
• The gravitational field strength on the surface of the gas giants (eg. Jupiter and Saturn) is more than
on the Earth
o This means it would be harder to lift a mass on the gas giants than on the Earth

Value for g on the different objects in the Solar System

• On such planets such as Jupiter, an object’s mass remains the same at all points in space
• However, their weight will be a lot greater meaning for example, a human will be unable to fully
stand up

A person’s weight on Jupiter would be so large a human would be unable to fully stand up
Gravitational Attraction of the Sun

• There are many orbiting objects in our solar system and they each orbit a different type of planetary
body

Orbiting Objects or Bodies in Our Solar System Table

• A smaller body or object will orbit a larger body

o For example, a planet orbiting the Sun
• In order to orbit a body such as a star or a planet, there has to be a force pulling the
object towards that body
o Gravity provides this force
• Therefore, it is said that the force that keeps a planet in orbit around the Sun is the gravitational
attraction of the Sun
• The gravitational force exerted by the larger body on the orbiting object is always attractive
o Therefore, the gravitational force always acts towards the centre of the larger body
• Therefore, the force that keeps an object in orbit around the Sun is the gravitational attraction of the
Sun and is always directed from the orbiting object to the centre of the Sun

• The gravitational force will cause the body to move and maintain in a circular path

Gravitational attraction causes the Moon to orbit around the Earth

Sun's Gravitational Field & Distance
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• As the distance from the Sun increases:

o The strength of the Sun's gravitational field on the planet decreases

o Their orbital speed of the planet decreases
• To keep an object in a circular path, it must have a centripetal force
o For planets orbiting the Sun, this force is gravity
• Therefore, the strength of the Sun's gravitational field in the planet affects how much centripetal force
is on the planet
o This strength decreases the further away the planet is from the Sun, and the weaker the
centripetal force
• The centripetal force is proportional to the orbital speed
o Therefore, the planets further away from the Sun have a smaller orbital speed
o This also equates to a longer orbital duration

How the speed of a planet is affected by its distance from the Sun

• This can be seen from data collected for a planet's orbital distance against their orbital speed
o E.g. Neptune travels much slower than Mercury

Table of Orbital Distance, Speed and Duration

Orbital distance / Orbital Speed / Orbital duration /

Planet
million km km/s days or years

Mercury 57.9 47.9 88 days

Venus 108.2 35.0 225 days
Earth 149.6 29.8 365 days
Mars 227.9 24.1 687 days
 Jupiter 778.6 13.1 11.9 years
Saturn 1433.5 9.7 29.5 years
Uranus 2872.5 6.8 75 years
Neptune 4495.1 5.4 165 years

Orbits & Conservation of Energy

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• An object in an elliptical orbit around the Sun travels at a different speed depending on its distance
from the Sun
• Although these orbits are not circular, they are still stable
o For a stable orbit, the radius must change if the comet's orbital speed changes
• As the comet approaches the Sun:
o The radius of the orbit decreases
o The orbital speed increases due to the Sun's strong gravitational pull
• As the comet travels further away from the Sun:
o The radius of the orbit increases
o The orbital speed decreases due to a weaker gravitational pull from the Sun

Comets travel in highly elliptical orbits, speeding up as they approach the Sun
Conservation of Energy

• Although an object in an elliptical orbit, such as a comet, continually changes its speed its energy
must still be conserved
o Throughout the orbit, the gravitational potential energy and kinetic energy of the comet
changes
• As the comet approaches the Sun:
o It loses gravitational potential energy and gains kinetic energy
o This causes the comet to speed up
o This increase in speed causes a slingshot effect, and the body will be flung back out into
space again, having passed around the Sun
• As the comment moves away from the Sun:
o It gains gravitational potential energy and loses kinetic energy
o This causes it to slow down
o Eventually, it falls back towards the Sun once more
• In this way, a stable orbit is formed
6.2.1 The Sun as a Star
The Sun

• The Sun lies at the centre of the Solar System

o The Sun is a star which makes up over 99% of the mass of the solar system
o The fact that most of the mass of the Solar System is concentrated in the Sun is the reason the
smaller planets orbit the Sun

 The gravitational pull of the Sun on the planets keeps them in orbit

• The Sun is a medium sized star consisting of mainly hydrogen and helium
• It radiates most of its energy in the infrared, visible and ultraviolet regions of the electromagnetic
spectrum

Our Sun (Image courtesy of NASA)

• Stars come in a wide range of sizes and colours, from yellow stars to red dwarfs, from blue giants to
red supergiants
o These can be classified according to their colour
• Warm objects emit infrared and extremely hot objects emit visible light as well
o Therefore, the colour they emit depends on how hot they are

• A star's colour is related to its surface temperature

o A red star is the coolest (at around 3000 K)
o A blue star is the hottest (at around 30 000 K)
 The colour of a star correlates to its temperature

Nuclear Fusion in Stars

EXTENDED

• In the centre of a stable star, hydrogen atoms undergo nuclear fusion to form helium
• The equation for the reaction is shown here:

Deuterium and Tritium are both isotopes of hydrogen. They can be formed through other fusion reactions
in the star

• A huge amount of energy is released in the reaction

• This provides a pressure that prevents the star from collapsing under its gravity

The fusion of deuterium and tritium to form helium with the release of energy

An example of a hydrogen fusion reaction which takes place in stars is shown here.
Which of the following is a valid reason as to why hydrogen fusion is not currently possible on Earth?

A Hydrogen fusion produces dangerous radioactive waste

B Hydrogen nuclei require very high temperature to fuse together

C Hydrogen is a rare element that would be difficult to get large amounts of

D Hydrogen fusion does not produce enough energy to be commercially viable

6.2.2 Stars

The Milky Way

• Galaxies are made up of billions of stars

• The Universe is made up of many different galaxies

• The Sun is one of billions of stars in a galaxy called the Milky Way
• Other stars in the Milky Way galaxy are much further away from Earth than the Sun is
• Some of these stars also have planets which orbit them

Our solar system is just one out of potentially billions in our galactic neighbourhood, the Milky Way.
There are estimated to be more than 100 billion galaxies in the entire universe

• Astronomical distances such as the distances between stars and galaxies, are so large that physicists
use a special unit to measure them called the light-year

• One light-year is:

The distance travelled by light through (the vacuum of) space in one year

• The speed of light is the universal speed limit, nothing can travel faster than the speed of light
• But over astronomical distances, light actually travels pretty slowly
• The diameter of the Milky Way is approximately 100 000 light-years
o This means that light would take 100 000 years to travel across it

EXTENDED

• One light year = 9.5 × 1012 km = 9.5 × 1015 m

Life Cycle of Stars
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1. Nebula

• All stars form from a giant interstellar cloud of hydrogen gas and dust called a nebula

2. Protostar

• The force of gravity within a nebula pulls the particles closer together until it forms a hot ball of
gas, known as a protostar
• As the particles are pulled closer together the density of the protostar will increase
o This will result in more frequent collisions between the particles which causes
the temperature to increase

3. Main Sequence Star

• Once the protostar becomes hot enough, nuclear fusion reactions occur within its core
o The hydrogen nuclei will fuse to form helium nuclei
o Every fusion reaction releases heat (and light) energy which keeps the core hot

• Once a protostar is formed, its life cycle will depend on its mass
• The different life cycles are shown below:
 Flow diagram showing the life cycle of a star which is the same size as the Sun (solar mass) and the
lifecycle of a star which is much bigger than the Sun

• Once a star is born it is known as a main-sequence star

• During the main sequence, the star is in equilibrium and said to be stable
o The inward force due to gravity is equal to the outward pressure force from the fusion
reactions

4. Red Giant or Red Super Giant

• After several billion years the hydrogen causing the fusion reactions in the star will begin to run out
• Once this happens, the fusion reactions in the core will start to die down
• This causes the core to shrink and heat up
 o The core will shrink because the inward force due to gravity will become greater than the
outward force due to the pressure of the expanding gases as the fusion dies down
• A new series of reactions will then occur around the core, for example, helium nuclei will
undergo fusion to form beryllium
• These reactions will cause the outer part of the star to expand
• A star the same size as the Sun or smaller will become a red giant
• A star much larger than the Sun will become a red super giant
o It is red because the outer surface starts to cool

5. For Red Giant Stars

Planetary Nebula

• Once this second stage of fusion reactions have finished, the star will become unstable and eject the
outer layer of dust and gas
o The layer of dust and gas which is ejected is called a planetary nebula

White Dwarf

• The core which is left behind will collapse completely, due to the pull of gravity, and the star will
become a white dwarf
• The white dwarf will be cooling down and as a result, the amount of energy it emits will decrease

Black Dwarf

• Once the star has lost a significant amount of energy it becomes a black dwarf
• It will continue to cool until it eventually disappears from sight
 The lifecycle of a solar mass star

6. For Red Super Giants

Supernova

• Once the fusion reactions inside the red supergiant finally finish, the core of the star will collapse
suddenly causing a gigantic explosion
o This is called a supernova
• At the centre of this explosion a dense body, called a neutron star will form
• The outer remnants of the star will be ejected into space during the supernova explosion, forming
a planetary nebula
o The nebula from a supernova may form new stars with orbiting planets

Neutron Star (or Black Hole)

• In the case of the biggest stars, the neutron star that forms at the centre will continue
to collapse under the force of gravity until it forms a black hole
o A black hole is an extremely dense point in space that not even light can escape from
Lifecycle of a star much larger than our Sun
6.2.3 The Expanding Universe

Galaxies & Redshift

• Usually, when an object emits waves, the wavefronts spread out symmetrically
• If the wave source moves, the waves can become squashed together or stretched out

Diagram showing the wavefronts produced from a stationary object and a moving object

• A moving object will cause the wavelength, λ, (and frequency) of the waves to change:
o The wavelength of the waves in front of the source decreases and the frequency increases
o The wavelength behind the source increases and the frequency decreases
o This effect is known as the Doppler effect

• The Doppler effect also affects light

o If an object moves away from an observer the wavelength of light increases
 This is known as redshift as the light moves towards the red end of the spectrum

• Redshift is:

An increase in the observed wavelength of electromagnet radiation emitted from receding stars and
galaxies
Light from a star that is moving towards an observer will be blueshifted and light from a star moving away
from an observer will be redshifted

The observer behind observes a red shift

• The Milky Way is just one of billions of galaxies that make up the Universe
• Light emitted from distant galaxies appears redshifted when compared with light emitted on Earth
• The diagram below shows the light coming to us from a close object, such as the Sun, and the light
coming to us from a distant galaxy

Comparing the light spectrum produced from the Sun and a distant galaxy

• The diagram also shows that the light coming to us from distant galaxies is redshifted
o The lines on the spectrum are shifted towards the red end
• This indicates that the galaxies are moving away from us
• If the galaxies are moving away from us it means that the universe is expanding
• The observation of redshift from distant galaxies supports the Big Bang theory

• Another observation from looking at the light spectrums produced from distant galaxies is that
the greater the distance to the galaxy, the greater the redshift
o This means that the further away a galaxy, the faster it is moving away from us

Graph showing the greater the distance to a galaxy, the greater the redshift
6.2.4 The Big Bang Theory

The Big Bang

• Around 14 billion years ago, the Universe began from a very small region that was extremely
hot and dense
• Then there was a giant explosion, which is known as the Big Bang
• This caused the universe to expand from a single point, cooling as it does so, to form the universe
today
• Each point expands away from the others
o This is seen from galaxies moving away from each other, and the further away they are the
faster they move
• Redshift in the light from distant galaxies is evidence that the Universe is expanding and supports the
Big Bang Theory
o As a result of the initial explosion, the Universe continues to expand

All galaxies are moving away from each other, indicating that the universe is expanding

• An analogy of this is points drawn on a balloon where the balloon represents space and the points as
galaxies
o When the balloon is deflated, all the points are close together and an equal distance apart
o As the balloon expands, all the points become further apart by the same amount
o This is because the space itself has expanded between the galaxies
 A balloon inflating is similar to the stretching of the space between galaxies

Redshift and CMBR

Evidence for the Big Bang

• The Big Bang theory is very well supported by evidence from a range of sources
• The main pieces of evidence are
o Galactic red-shift
o Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation (CMBR)

Evidence from Galactic Red-Shift

• Galactic redshift provides evidence for the Big Bang Theory and the expansion of the universe
• The diagram below shows the light coming to us from a close object, such as the Sun, and the light
coming to the Earth from a distant galaxy

Comparing the light spectrum produced from the Sun and a distant galaxy
 • Red-shift provides evidence that the Universe is expanding because:
• Red-shift is observed when the spectral lines from the distant galaxy move closer to the red end of
the spectrum
o This is because light waves are stretched by the expansion of the universe so the wavelength
increases (or frequency decreases)
o This indicates that the galaxies are moving away from us

• Light spectrums produced from distant galaxies are red-shifted more than nearby galaxies
o This shows that the greater the distance to the galaxy, the greater the redshift
o This means that the further away a galaxy is, the faster it is moving away from the Earth

• These observations imply that the universe is expanding and therefore support the Big Bang Theory

Tracing the expansion of the universe back to the beginning of time leads to the idea the universe began
with a “big bang”

EXTENDED

Evidence from CMB Radiation

• The discovery of the CMB (Cosmic Microwave Background) radiation led to the Big Bang theory
becoming the currently accepted model
o The CMB is a type of electromagnetic radiation which is a remnant from the early stages of
the Universe
o It has a wavelength of around 1 mm making it a microwave, hence the name
Cosmic Microwave Background radiation

• In 1964, Astronomers discovered radiation in the microwave region of the electromagnetic spectrum
coming from all directions and at a generally uniform temperature of 2.73 K
o They were unable to do this any earlier since microwaves are absorbed by the atmosphere
o Around this time, space flight was developed which enabled astronomers to send telescopes
into orbit above the atmosphere
EXTENDED
• According to the Big Bang theory, the early Universe was an extremely hot and dense environment
o As a result of this, it must have emitted thermal radiation

• The radiation is in the microwave region

o This is because over the past 14 billion years or so, the radiation initially from the Big Bang
has become redshifted as the Universe has expanded
o Initially, this would have been high energy radiation, towards the gamma end of the spectrum
o As the Universe expanded, the wavelength of the radiation increased
o Over time, it has increased so much that it is now in the microwave region of the spectrum

The CMB is a result of high energy radiation being redshifted over billions of years

EXTENDED

• The CMB radiation is very uniform and has the exact profile expected to be emitted from a hot
body that has cooled down over a very long time
o This phenomenon is something that other theories (such as the Steady State
Theory) cannot explain

• The CMB is represented by the following map:

The CMB map with areas of higher and lower temperature. Places with higher temperature have a higher
concentration of galaxies, Suns and planets
EXTENDED

• This is the closest image to a map of the observable Universe

• The different colours represent different temperatures
o The red / orange / brown regions represent warmer temperature indicating a higher
density of galaxies
o The blue regions represents cooler temperature indicating a lower density of galaxies

• The temperature of the CMB radiation is mostly uniform, however, there are minuscule temperature
fluctuations (on the order of 0.00001 K)
o This implies that all objects in the Universe are more or less uniformly spread out

Measuring Galactic Speed & Distance

EXTENDED

Using Redshift Observations to Measure the Universe

• The change in wavelength of the galaxy’s starlight due to redshift can be used to find the velocity, v,
with which a galaxy (or any distant object) is moving away from Earth
o Using an equation to compare the ratio of the expected wavelength with the observed
wavelength, the velocity can be found;

This equation will not be directly examined but the idea that the velocity of distant objects can be
found from the redshift seen in easily observed wavelengths is an important one

Measuring Distance Using Supernovae

• Redshift and CMB radiation allow various measurements of the Universe to be accurately made
o Measuring distance is done using different methods
o A key method is the use of standard candles, including supernovae
• Supernovae are exploding stars
o Certain types have the same peak level of brightness (absolute magnitude), making them
extremely useful in measuring the distance to remote stars and galaxies
o Type 1a supernovae are so bright that they can be seen clearly even though they may be deep
inside their parent galaxy
o This allows the distance to the galaxy to be calculated
6.2.5 Hubble & The Age of the Universe

Hubble Constant Calculations

EXTENDED

• In 1929, the astronomer Edwin Hubble showed that the universe was expanding
o He did this by observing that the absorption line spectra produced from the light of distant
galaxies was shifted towards the red end of the spectrum
o This doppler shift in the wavelength of the light is evidence that distant galaxies are moving
away from the Earth

• Hubble also observed that light from more distant galaxies was shifted further towards the red end
of the spectrum compared to closer galaxies
o From this observation he concluded that galaxies or stars which are further away from the
Earth are moving faster than galaxies which are closer

• Hubble’s law states:

The recessional velocity v of a galaxy is proportional to its distance from Earth

• Hubble’s law can be expressed as an equation:

• Where:
o H0 = Hubble constant, this will be provided in your examination along with the correct units
(km s-1 Mpc-1)
 The accepted value is that H0 = 2.2 × 10–18 per second
 o v = recessional velocity of an object, the velocity of an object moving away from an observer
(km s-1)
o d = distance between the object and the Earth (Mpc)

• As the equation shows, the Hubble Constant, H0 is defined as:

The ratio of the speed at which the galaxy is moving away from the Earth, to its distance from the
Earth

Age of the Universe

EXTENDED

• Since Hubble's Law states that

• It can be rearranged to show that

• Hubble’s law shows that the further away a star is from the Earth, the faster it is moving away from
us

A key aspect of Hubble’s law is that the furthest galaxies appear to move away the fastest

• The gradient of the graph can be used to find the Age of the Universe
o When the distance equals zero, this represents all the matter in the Universe being at a single
point
o This is the singularity that occurred at the moment of the Big Bang
 • The units of the gradient are per second (the same as the units of the Hubble Constant)
o By taking the reciprocal, or, the units will become seconds
o Therefore the reciprocal of the gradient represents time and gives the amount of time which
the Universe has been expanding for

• Astronomers have used this formula to estimate the age of the Universe at about 13.7 billion years

A distant galaxy is 20 light-years away from Earth.

Use Hubble’s Law to determine the velocity of the galaxy as it moves away from Earth.

The Hubble constant is currently agreed to be 2.2 x 10-18 s-1.

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Step 1: List the known quantities:

•
o d = 20 light years
o Ho = 2.2 x 10-18 s-1

Step 2: Convert 20 light-years to m:

•
o From the data booklet: 1 ly ≈ 9.5 x 1015 m
o So, 20 ly = 20 x (9.5 x 1015) = 1.9 x 1017 m

Step 3: Substitute values into Hubble's Law:

•
o From the data booklet: v ≈ H0d
o So, v ≈ (2.2 x 10-18 ) x (1.9 x 1017) = 0.418 m s-1

Step 4: Confirm your answer:

•
o The velocity of the galaxy as it moves away from Earth 0.42 m s-1