ASTR 001 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Leading Edge, Tidal Force, Tidal Locking
15 Jul 2020
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Document Summary
Orbits describe one body falling around another. The less massive object is a satellite of the more massive object. The two bodies orbit a common center of mass. For a much smaller satellite, the center of mass is inside the more massive body. An astronaut inside an orbiting space shuttle will experience free fall because he is falling around earth at the same rate as the shuttle. Gravity provides the centripetal force that holds a satellite in its orbit. Uniform circular motion: moving on a circular path at a constant speed. Still experiencing an acceleration since the direction is constantly changing. Planets in real-world scenarios move on elliptical orbits. The gravitational force changes both the direction and the speed of the planet as it moves in its orbit. Results in kepler"s 2nd law of equal areas. Objects with higher orbital speeds can escape bound orbits to be in unbound orbits. Newton derived kepler"s laws from his law of gravity.
