ASTRONOMY

CHAPTER 2
ORBITS and GRAVITY: THE LAW OF PLANETARY MOTION

The Law of Planetary Motion

I. INTRODUCTION
Interpreting planetary motions would be easier we look down on the solar system
from somewhere in space. However, we must actually use our own moving object to track
the positions of all other planets. This was the problem confronting astronomers during the
nineteenth century as they tried to pin down a full inventory of our solar system. Galileo
started his studies with falling bodies around the same time as two other scientists, Tycho
Brahe and Johannes Kepler, made significant contributions to our knowledge of planet
motions. Together, they gave Copernicus' theories a solid mathematical foundation and
cleared the path for Isaac Newton's work in the following century.

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

a. Describe how Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler contributed to our

II.PRE-COMPETENCY CHECKLIST
Using the table below, fill out the significant contribution of Tycho Brahe and Johannes
Kepler in the field of astronomy.

Astronomers Significant Contribution

Tycho Brahe

Johannes Kepler

III.Learning Resources/Materials
Franknoi, A., Morrison, D., & Wolff, S. (2017). Astronomy. Rice University.
Blackman, E. G. (2023). The Observations of Tycho Brahe. Retrieved from Department of Physics
and Astronomy University of Rochester:
https://www.pas.rochester.edu/~blackman/ast104/brahe10.html
Dreyer, J. L. (2023). Famous Scientists. Retrieved from Tycho Brahe:
https://www.famousscientists.org/tycho-brahe
BIBLIOGRAPHY
BIBLIOGRAPHY Laboratory, J. P. (2004). The History of Johannes Kepler.
Retrieved from NASA Gov News: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/the-history-of-
johannes-kepler
 Tycho Brahe’s observation
became the foundation for a new
understanding of the solar system and
ultimately gravity. He proposed a modified
Copernican system in which the planets
revolved around the Sun, which in turn
moved around the stationary Earth. The
observations conducted by Tycho Brahe
were made using only a compass and a
sextant.

Figure 2.1 Tycho Brahe, the last and greatest of Here are the observations of Tycho Brahe
the pre-telescopic observers in Europe. that develop the Copernican system.

1. He proved that comets were not just components of Earth’s atmosphere, but
actual objects travelling through space.
2. His observations of planetary motion, particularly that of Mars, provided the crucial
data for later astronomers like Kepler to construct our present model of the solar
system.
3. He made observations of an exploding star (supernova) that flared up to great
brilliance in the night sky.
4. He made the best measurements that had yet been made in the search for stellar
parallax. Upon finding no parallax for the stars, he (correctly) concluded that either
 the earth was motionless at the center of the Universe, or
 the stars were so far away that their parallax was too small to measure.
5. Brahe proposed a model of the Solar System that was intermediate between the
Ptolemaic and Copernican models (it had the Earth at the center). It proved to be
incorrect, but was the most widely accepted model of the Solar System for a time.

Johannes Kepler
became interested in Copernican
system when he attended university
at Tubingen and studied for a
theological career. Eventually, he
went to Prague to serve as an
assistant to Brahe, who set him to
work trying to find a satisfactory
theory of planetary motion. Brahe
was reluctant to provide Kepler with
much material at any one time for fear
Figure 2.2 Johannes Kepler used simple
that Kepler would discover the secrets
mathematics to formulate three laws of planetary
of the universal motion by himself,
motion.
thereby robbing Brahe of some of the glory. Only after Brahe’s death in 1601 did Kepler get
full possession of the priceless records. Their study occupied most of Kepler’s time for more
than 20 years.
Through his analysis of the motions of the planets, Kepler developed a series of
principles, now known as Kepler’s three laws, which described the behavior of planets
based on their paths through space. The first two laws of planetary motion were published in
1609 in The New Astronomy. Their discovery was a profound step in the development of
modern science.
1st Law of Planetary Motion states that the orbits of all the planets are ellipses. Each planet
moves around the Sun in an orbit that is an ellipse, with the Sun at one focus of the ellipse.
- He eventually discovered that the orbit of that planet had the shape of a
somewhat flattened circle, or ellipse.
- In an ellipse, the sum of the distance from two special points inside the ellipse to
any point on the ellipse is always the same. These two points inside the ellipse
are called its foci (singular: focus)
- The widest diameter of the ellipse is called its major axis. The semimajor axis,
which is typically used to indicate the size of the ellipse, is half this distance, or
the distance from one end of the elliptical to its center.
- The ratio of the distance between the foci to the length of the major axis is called
the eccentricity of the ellipse.
- The size and shape of an ellipse are completely specified by its semimajor axis
and its eccentricity.
nd
2 Law of Planetary Motion deals with the speed with which each planet moves along its
ellipse, also known as its orbital speed. The straight line joining a planet and the Sun
sweeps out equal areas in space in equal intervals of time.
- He also discovered that planets move proportionally faster in their orbits when
they are closer to the Sun and slows down as it pulls away from the Sun.
3rd Law of Planetary Motion explained the relationship between the distance of a planet
from the Sun and the amount of time it took to orbit the Sun. It states that the square of a
planet’s orbital period is directly proportional to the cube of the semimajor axis of its orbit.
- It says that a planet’s orbital period squared is proportional to the semimajor axis
of its orbit cubed, or P2 ∝ a3 – P, where P refers to orbital period, is measured in
years, and a is expressed in a quantity known as an astronomical unit (AU),
wherein the two sides of the formula are not only proportional but equal.
- 1 AU U is the average distance between Earth and the Sun and is approximately
equal to 1.5 × 108 kilometers.
- Kepler’s third law applies to all objects orbiting the Sun, including Earth, and
provides a means for calculating their relative distances from the Sun from the
time they take to orbit.
Example:
Suppose you time how long Mars takes to go around the Sun (in Earth years). Kepler’s third
law can then be used to calculate 004Dars’ average distance from the Sun. Mars’ orbital
period (1.88 Earth years) squared, or P2 is 1.882=3.53. According to the equation for
Kepler’s third law, this equals the cube of its semimajor axis, or a 3. So, what number must be
cubed to give 3.53?
The answer is 1.52 (since 1.52 × 1.52 × 1.52 = 3.53).
Thus, Mars’ semimajor axis in astronomical units must be 1.52 AU. In other words, to go
around the Sun in a little less than two years, Mars must be about 50% (half again) as far
from the Sun as Earth is.

Explore
Apply the Kepler’s third law of planetary motion.

Calculate P2 and a3 and make sure they follow Kepler's third law using the orbital periods
and semimajor axes for Venus and Earth that are provided here. Venus' semimajor axis is
0.72 AU, and its orbital period is 0.62 years. The semimajor axis of the Earth is 1.00 AU, and
its orbital period is 1.00 years.
Show your solution by using Given-Required-Solution format and box your final answer