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Gold3nlily
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Homework Statement
Suppose that a comet that was seen in 545 A.D. by Chinese astronomers was spotted again in year 1937. Assume the time between observations is the period of the comet and take its eccentricity as 0.11. What are (a) the semimajor axis of the comet's orbit and (b) its greatest distance from the Sun?
Homework Equations
Kepler's Third Law
T2= [(4pi2)/(GM)]* a3
G = 6.67e-11
Me = 5.98e24
The Attempt at a Solution
part a:
T = 1937-545 = 1392 (365d*24h*3600s) = 4.38e10 sec
e = 0.11
T2= [(4pi2)/(GM)]* a3
solve for a
a = [T2*[(GM)/(4pi2)]](1/3)
a = [(4.38e10)2*[(6.67e-11*5.98e24)/(4pi2)]](1/3)
a= 2.69e11 m
Part b:
Ra = a + ea
solve for Ra with e and a... but I can't find the correct a in first part of question
Whats going on, where did I go wrong?