PHYS4652 Planetary Science

Assignment # 1

Due Date: Thurs. Feb. 24, 2022

1. (a) Calculate the ratio of the rotational angular momentum of the Sun to the sum of orbital
angular momenta of the planets. You can assume circular orbits at zero inclination for
all planets. Explain whether your calculation of the rotational angular momentum of
the Sun is exact or an under/over-estimate.

(b) Calculate the fraction of the total orbital angular momentum of the planets contributed
by Jupiter.

2. The sidereal day is the rotation period of a planet in an inertial frame, and the solar day
is the time for two successive returns of the Sun to the local meridian. In the following, you
can assume that the orbit is circular and that the spin axis is perpendicular to the orbital
plane.

(a) Earth rotates in the prograde direction. How many times must the Earth rotate per
orbit in order for there to be 365.24 solar days per year?

(b) If a planet rotated once per orbit in the retrograde direction, how many solar days
would it have per orbit?

3. Derive Newton’s generalization of Kepler’s laws from the equation of relative motion in
the two-body problem:

(a) In one of the lectures, we derived the law of angular momentum conservation by taking
the cross product of r with d2 r/dt2 . By writing the expression for the magnitude of
the specific angular momentum, L, in polar coordinates, deduce Kepler’s second law
and determine the constant rate of sweeping dA/dt.

(b) We also derived the law of energy conservation by taking the dot product of v with
d2 r/dt2 . Express the specific energy, E, in polar coordinates and solve for dr/dt.
Write dθ/dr = (dθ/dt)/(dr/dt) and then use the magnitude of the specific angular
 –2–

momentum, L, to eliminate angular velocity to obtain dθ/dr as a function of r only.

Integrate the equation to show that r = p/(1 + e cos θ), i.e., the orbit is an ellipse if
0 ≤ e < 1.

(c) Show that the semimajor and semiminor axes of the ellipse are a = p/(1 − e2 ) and
b = p/(1 − e2 )1/2 . Determine the orbital period P by setting the integral of dA/dt
equal to the area of the ellipse.

Recall that in polar coordinates,

 
2 1d  2 
r = rr̂, ṙ = ṙr̂ + rθ̇θ̂, r̈ = (r̈ − rθ̇ )r̂ + r θ̇ θ̂.
r dt