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Halleys Comet Problem: Halleys comet moves in an elliptical orbit around the Sun, with
Chapter 12, Problem 4(choose chapter or problem)
Halleys Comet Problem: Halleys comet moves in an elliptical orbit around the Sun, with the Sun at one focus. It passes within about 50 million miles of the Sun once every 76 years. The other end of its orbit is about 5000 million miles from the Sun, beyond the orbit of Uranus. a. Find the eccentricity of the comets orbit. b. Find the particular equation of the orbit. Put the origin at the Sun and the x-axis along the major axis. c. The orbits major axis is 5050 million miles long. How wide is it? d. How far is the comet from the Sun when the line from its position to the Sun is perpendicular to the major axis? e. Where is the directrix of the ellipse corresponding to the Sun?
Questions & Answers
QUESTION:
Halleys Comet Problem: Halleys comet moves in an elliptical orbit around the Sun, with the Sun at one focus. It passes within about 50 million miles of the Sun once every 76 years. The other end of its orbit is about 5000 million miles from the Sun, beyond the orbit of Uranus. a. Find the eccentricity of the comets orbit. b. Find the particular equation of the orbit. Put the origin at the Sun and the x-axis along the major axis. c. The orbits major axis is 5050 million miles long. How wide is it? d. How far is the comet from the Sun when the line from its position to the Sun is perpendicular to the major axis? e. Where is the directrix of the ellipse corresponding to the Sun?
ANSWER:Step 1 of 5
The standard form of the equation of an ellipse with a center
Where
And eccentricity
The graph would be like this:
From the graph we got the information:
And
