All Questions
7
questions
3
votes
3
answers
183
views
Why do the planets tend to spin in the same direction as they orbit the center sun?
I mean, why do the spin angular momentum and the orbit angular momentum of a planet tend to have the same direction?
As we all know, a planetesimal $m$ orbiting a sun with mass $M_{sun}$ at $r$ will ...
- 309
0
votes
2
answers
292
views
How does Kepler's Second Law show that a planet further from the sun will move slower?
This is probably a very stupid question. We are told that due to Kepler's Second Law, which according to this very straightforward explanation:
"Kepler's second law of planetary motion describes ...
- 54
2
votes
1
answer
230
views
Angular momentum of a planet about apogee
Angular momentum of a planet about its apogee is maximum at __________
Now, I do know that
Angular momentum of a planet around the focus of the elliptical orbit (the sun) is conserved due to gravity ...
1
vote
3
answers
1k
views
Why does angular momentum being constant prove Kepler's first law?
So I was watching this video and this video on Kepler's first law in order to understand the proof of Kepler's first law. He started off by saying that for an ellipse, the distance from a focus point ...
-5
votes
2
answers
156
views
How do astronomers explain trajectories of planets?
I'm wondering how astronomers can explain the trajectories of planets because:
planets spin, so have angular kinetic energy. Thanks to the mass-energy relationship this means space-time curvature.
...
- 19
1
vote
1
answer
110
views
Would a celestial body in a horseshoe orbit be tidally locked to the planet?
A smaller celestial body like a moon or an asteroid can be in a horseshoe orbit around a planet.
Since it might go inside the tidal lock radius (but does not stay inside it all the time), during the ...
2
votes
1
answer
427
views
Tidal locking of a planet to a satellite
As in the case of Pluto and its moon Charon, both the bodies are tidally locked to each other, will the Earth ever be tidally locked to the Moon? Is there any effect on the rotation of the Earth ...
- 2,754