Asteroids and Comets Worksheet

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Clemson University *

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1030

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Physics

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Dec 6, 2023

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Asteroids and Comets Worksheet These lab activities have evolved over many years of use in Clemson University’s Department of Physics and Astronomy general astronomy laboratory. Contributors include, in chronological order, Tom Collins, Mark Leising, Neil Miller, Peter Milne, Grant Williams, Donna Mullenax, Jessica Crist, Keith Davis, Amber Porter, Steven Bromley, and David Connick. Please direct all questions, complaints, and corrections to David Connick (dconnic@clemson.edu) who is responsible for all errors and omissions. Student Name:Vincent Bonfanti Asteroids Each of the yellow dots is an asteroid. You should see that they are primarily grouped in one area. Let time play forward a little to get a feel for the motions and then answer the questions. 1) Where do the majority of the asteroids (main belt asteroids) appear to reside? Describe their location based on the orbits of the planets. Majority of asteroids are located between Jupiter and Mars 2) Click on and view the orbits of some of the main belt asteroids. Do the main belt asteroids mostly have circular or highly eccentric orbits? Give eccentricity value to support your answer. They are relatively low eccentricities. Ex: .014, .201, .233 You may need to adjust your viewpoint by clicking on the screen and dragging to change your angle of view for the next question. 3) Compared to the planets, are the main belt asteroids mostly in the plane of the ecliptic? Explain. The main belt asteroids are mostly in the plane of the ecliptic because they follow a similar path of the other planets. Return to a top down view of the solar system. Play time forward and watch the asteroids that are out by Jupiter’s orbit. These asteroids are called the Trojans. 4) It may help to click on one of the asteroids near Jupiter’s orbit and watch it for one full orbit of Jupiter. How does the asteroid’s orbit compare to Jupiter’s? You should change the viewpoint to view the tilt of the asteroids orbit as well as the comparing the top down view. The trojan comets have orbits that pass through Jupiter’s. They orbit alongside Jupiter, in more elongated orbits than the asteroids in the main asteroid belt. 5) Let’s use the scientific process to determine whether main belt asteroids often collide with one another. Begin by writing down your hypothesis. (Do you think there are a lot of collisions and why do you think that.) My hypothesis: The main belt asteroids often collide with one another because they all orbit in a relatively small place around the same star.

6) Next, we will use a calculation to test your hypothesis. Recall that the main asteroid belt is located between Mars and Jupiter. So, the first step of the calculation is to determine the area of the asteroid belt by subtracting the area of Mars’ orbit from Jupiters’ orbit. This will require finding the area of a circle. A= (pi)*r 2 Show your work below. Give your final answer in kilometers squared (km 2 ) using the conversion that 1 AU = 1.5x10 8 km. Mars: A= (pi)*r2 , A= (pi)*(1.523710 AU)2 , 1.523710 AU*(1.5x10 km8 )= 2.285565x108 km, A=(pi)*(2.285565x108 ) 2 , A= (3.14)*(5.22380736x1016), A= 1.64110748×1017 km2 .Jupiter: A= (pi)*r2 , A= (pi)*(5.202887 AU)2 , 5.202887 AU*(1.5x10 km8 )= 7.8043305x108 km, A=(pi)*(7.8043305x108 ) 2 , A= (3.14)*(6.09075745x1017), A= 1.91346788×1018 km2 . A jupiter- A Mars= 1.74935713x1018 km2 7) Now that you know the area of the asteroid belt, let’s determine how many asteroids could fit in that space by dividing the area of the asteroid belt by the area of one asteroid. Assume that the typical asteroid has a radius of 0.5 km. Show your work below. A Asteroid = (pi)*r2 , A= (3.14)* (0.5)2 , A= 0.78539816 km2 1.74935713x1018 km2 /0.78539816 km2= 2.2229944x1018 8) There are approximately 750,000 asteroids with a diameter of 1 km (radius of 0.5 km) in the main asteroid belt. Using your calculation above, discuss whether or not this information supports your hypothesis. My calculations refute my hypothesis. I underestimated the area of the asteroid belt by a lot. From my calculations, I now conclude that the collisions between the asteroids in the main belt are basically impossible, if not incredibly rare. Comets - read instructions to set up Starry Night to answer these questions 9) What is the perihelion date of comet 1P/Halley? The perihelion date is August 1,1910 10) What is the perihelion distance of this comet? How does this compare to Earth’s distance from the Sun? The perihelion distance is 0.600 AU. It is closer than Earth to the Sun at this time. The distance of Earth from the Sun on this date is 1.01 AU. 11) At what point in 1P/Halley orbit did the tail of the comet appear largest? The tail appeared the largest at the comet’s perihelion. 12) In what direction does the comet tail point? Does it change direction as the comet orbits the Sun?

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