Recent content by zxcvbnm

Oh gosh, I have no idea what's gone on with my working then. I'll try redoing it while converting everything to standard units and see if that gets me to your answer. Thanks!

"Consider the case of circularly orbiting binary stars, for which we neglect deformation, mass flow, and other radiation processes." so Kepler's third should apply here because it's a circular orbit, by my understanding.

Sorry, I'll try my best to break it down in a way that seems clear! To start with, Kepler's law problem. I have two masses, of 1 solar mass each, orbiting at a distance of a = 10 solar radii (~10/215 AU, I believe). From Kepler's third law, I get t = ((10/215)3 x 4 pi2/2G)1/2 = 5,455 years...

To clarify, trying to solve for T and t :)

I'm trying to use the separation and masses to calculate the decay time and orbital period that's given. I want to check that I'm using this equation correctly by doing it on this worked example before I use it for an assignment question, but I still can't get out the numbers that are given.

I posted this before but I think it was in the wrong, place, so sorry for the duplicate :O I'm trying to work through some equations in the paper 'Gravitational Radiation and the Motion of Two Point Masses' (Peters, 1964) but I can't get out the right values 1. Homework Statement For a binary...

Oh, also regarding Kepler's third law. My lecture notes give it as (G/4pi2)(m1 + m2) t2=a3 where t is orbital period in years, masses are in solar units, and a is in au. This formula also isn't working for me yet?

I'm trying to work through some equations in the paper 'Gravitational Radiation and the Motion of Two Point Masses' (Peters, 1964) but I can't get out the right values 1. Homework Statement For a binary star system with each mass = 1 solar mass, the equations give the results: Separation ~ 10...