Kepler's laws of planetary motion

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Figure 1: Illustration of Kepler's three laws with two planetary orits! "1# $he orits are
ellipses, with focal points
1
and
%
for the first planet
1
and
&
for the second planet! $he
sun is placed in focal point
1
! "%# $he two shaded sectors A
1
and A
%
have the same
surface area and the time for planet 1 to cover segment A
1
is e'ual to the time to cover
segment A
%
! "&# $he total orit times for planet 1 and planet % have a ratio a
1
&(%
: a
%
&(%
!
In astronomy, Kepler's three laws of planetary motion are:
1! )$he orit of every planet is an ellipse with the sun at a focus!)
%! )* line +oining a planet and the sun sweeps out e'ual areas during e'ual intervals
of time!)
,1-

&! )$he s'uare of the orital period of a planet is directly proportional to the cue of
the semi.ma+or a/is of its orit!)
$hese three mathematical laws were discovered
,%-
y 0erman mathematician and
astronomer Johannes Kepler "1121314&5#, and used y him to descrie the motion of
planets in the 6olar 6ystem! $hey descrie the motion of any two odies oriting each
other!
Kepler worked from the oservations of $ycho 7rahe, which he pulished as the
8udolphine tales! *round 1451, Kepler found that 7rahe's oservations of the planets'
positions followed these relatively simple mathematical laws!
Kepler's laws challenged *ristotelean and 9tolemaic astronomy and physics! :is
assertion that the ;arth moved, his use of ellipses rather than epicycles, and his proof that
the planets' speeds varied, changed astronomy and physics! *lmost a century later Isaac
<ewton was ale to deduce Kepler's laws from <ewton's own laws of motion and his law
of universal gravitation, using classical ;uclidean geometry!
In modern times, Kepler's laws are used to calculate appro/imate orits for artificial
satellites, and odies oriting the 6un of which Kepler was unaware "such as the outer
planets and smaller asteroids#! $hey apply where any relatively small ody is oriting a
larger, relatively massive ody, though the effects of atmospheric drag "e!g! in a low
orit#, relativity "e!g! 9erihelion precession of =ercury#, and other neary odies can
make the results insufficiently accurate for a specific purpose!
Contents
,hide-
1 Introduction to the three laws
o 1!1 0enerality
o 1!% First law
o 1!& 6econd law
o 1!> $hird law
% ?ero eccentricity
& <on@ero planetary mass
> 9osition as a function of time
o >!1 =athematics of the ellipse
o >!% 6ummary
o >!& Aetails and proof
1 Aerivation from <ewton's laws of motion and <ewton's law of gravitation
o 1!1 ;'uations of motion
o 1!% Aeriving Kepler's second law
o 1!& Aeriving Kepler's first law
o 1!> Aeriving Kepler's third law
4 6ee also
2 <otes
B 8eferences
C ;/ternal links
[edit] Introduction to the three laws
[edit] Generality
$hese laws descrie the motion of any two odies in orit around each other! $he masses
of the two odies can e nearly e'ual, e!g! DharonE9luto "F1:15#, in a small proportion,
e!g! =oonE;arth "F1:155#, or in a great proportion, e!g! =ercuryE6un "F1:15,555,555#!
In all cases oth the odies orit around the common center of mass, the arycenter, with
neither one having their center of mass e/actly at one focus of an ellipse! :owever, oth
orits are ellipses with one focus at the arycenter! When the ratio of masses is large, i!e!
with planets oriting the 6un, the arycenter is deep within the larger o+ect close to its
center of mass! In this case it re'uires sophisticated precise measurements to detect the
separation of the arycenter from the center of mass of the larger o+ect! $hus Kepler's
first law accurately descries the orits of the planets around the 6un!
6ince Kepler stated these laws as they apply to the 6un and the planets, and did not know
of their generality, this article discusses these laws as they apply to the sun and its
planets!
[edit] First law
Figure %: Kepler's first law placing the 6un at the focus of an elliptical orit
)$he orit of every planet is an ellipse with the sun at a focus!)
6ymolically:
where "r, # are heliocentric polar coordinates for the planet, p is the semi.latus rectum,
and is the eccentricity!
*t the time, this was a radical claimG the prevailing elief "particularly in epicycle.ased
theories# was that orits should e ased on perfect circles! $his oservation was very
significant at the time as it supported the Dopernican view of the Hniverse! $his does not
mean it loses relevance in a more modern conte/t! * circle is +ust one form of an ellipse,
ut most of the planets follow an orit of low eccentricity, meaning that they can e
crudely appro/imated as circles! 6o it is not evident from the orit of the planets that the
orits are indeed elliptic! :owever, Kepler's calculations proved they were, which also
allowed for other heavenly odies farther away from the 6un with highly eccentric orits
"like very long stretched out circles#! $hese other heavenly odies indeed have een
identified as the numerous comets or asteroids y astronomers after Kepler's time! $he
dwarf planet 9luto was discovered as late as 1C&5, the delay mostly due to its small si@e
and its highly elongated orit compared to the other planets! <evertheless, heavenly
odies such as comets with paraolic or even hyperolic orits are possile under the
<ewtonian theory and have een oserved!
,&-
[edit] Second law
Figure &: Illustration of Kepler's second law! $he planet moves faster near the 6un, so the
same area is swept out in a given time as at larger distances, where the planet moves
more slowly!
)* line +oining a planet and the sun sweeps out e'ual areas during e'ual intervals
of time!)
,1-

6ymolically:
where is the )areal velocity)!
$his is also known as the law of e'ual areas! $o understand this let us suppose a planet
takes one day to travel from point A to point B! $he lines from the 6un to points A and B,
together with the planet orit, will define an "roughly triangular# area! $his same area will
e covered every day regardless of where in its orit the planet is! <ow as the first law
states that the planet follows an ellipse, the planet is at different distances from the 6un at
different parts in its orit! $his leads to the conclusion that the planet has to move faster
when it is closer to the sun so that it sweeps an e'ual area!
Kepler's second law is an additional oservation on top of his first law! It is e'uivalent to
the fact that the net tangential force involved in an elliptical orit, as per his first law, is
@ero! $he )areal velocity) is proportional to angular momentum, and so for the same
reasons, Kepler's second law is also a statement of the conservation of angular
momentum!
[edit] Third law
9lanets distant from the sun have longer orital periods than close planets! Kepler's third
law descries this fact 'uantitatively!
)$he s'uare of the orital period of a planet is directly proportional to the cue of
the semi.ma+or a/is of its orit!)
6ymolically:
where P is the orital period of planet and a is the semima+or a/is of the orit!
$he proportionality constant is the same for any planet around the sun!
6o the constant is 1 "sidereal year#
%
"astronomical unit#
I&
or %!C2>2&J15
I1C
s
%
m
I&
! 6ee the
actual figures: attriutes of ma+or planets!
For e/ample, suppose planet * is four times as far from the sun as planet 7! $hen planet
* must traverse four times the distance of 9lanet 7 each orit, and moreover it turns out
that planet * travels at half the speed of planet 7! In total it takes >J%KB times as long for
planet * to travel an orit, in agreement with the law "B
%
K>
&
#!
$his law used to e known as the harmonic law!
,>-