Gravitational Potential Energy question

[stefiex]

Hello! I'm having some problems with a question that my professor has given me. Below is the question. I have already figured out the planet's orbital and angular-orbital velocities, but included that part due to the fact that some information was included.
PICA-9 and PIC-10 are planets orbiting its star, PIC-2A. Find each of the planet's orbital and
angular-orbital velocity if PIC-2A has the same mass as our Sun, PICA-9 is 1.0 A.U. away from
the star and PICA-10 is 5.5 times further than PICA-9. What are the gravitational potential
energies of each planet with respect to the star?

Homework Equations

Since everything must be in m/kg form, I have figured out that:
Distance from PICA-9 and PICA-2A is 1.50X10¹¹m
Distance from PICA-10 and PICA-2A is 8.22X10¹¹m
PICA-2A mass is 1.989X10³⁰kg
G=6.67X10^-11

The Attempt at a Solution

Since the formula for GPE given to me is -GMm/r (G=gravity in space, M="the anchor" mass, m=orbiting object's mass, and r=the distance between the planets), I wasn't sure if PE=mgh would be a helpful formula in this case. Would finding the kinetic energy be helpful as well? How would I find the mass of the planets?
Thanks for reading!

 

[TSny]

Hello stefiex and welcome to PF!

Stick with PE = -GMm/r. PE = mgh is only an approximation that is valid when m is near the surface of a planet or star.

Unfortunately, you will not be able to calculate PE without knowing the masses of the planets and there is no way to deduce those masses from the information given.

 

[stefiex]

That's what I thought. My teacher is notorious for forgetting information needed to complete the problem. Thanks for taking the time to look at it!