What formula would be used to calculate the aphelion distance of Halley’s Comet from the sun? Halle
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August 4, 2020What formula would be used to calculate the aphelion distance of Halley’s Comet from the sun? Halle
Given the aphelion distance and period given the perihelion distance is 35.28AU.
Kepler’s third law relates the orbit period T in years to the semi-major axis distance a in AU using the equation ##T^2=a^3##. If ##T=76## then ##a=17.94##.
Given that the comet’s orbit is an ellipse then the sum of the perihelion distance and the aphelion distance is twice the semi-major axis ##d_a+d_p=2a## or ##d_a=2a-d_p##. We have ##d_p=0.6## and ##a=17.94## then ##d_a=2*17.94-0.6=35.28AU##.
A direct equation relating the three values would be: ##d_a=2*T^(2/3)-d_p##
