Thursday, October 31, 2013

A Planet similar to earth



Scientists have found a new planet very close to the earth. Named Kepler-78b, this planet has 1.8 times the mass as that of the earth and is 400 light-years from the earth. It takes Kepler-78b 8.5 hrs to complete an orbit around its sun-like start in a radius of 900,000 miles. It does not rotate around its own axis. So I thought it will be interesting to compare the angular and linear speed of this new planet to earth. In order to calculate that, I assume it orbits in a circular path.

The orbit radius=900,000 miles*1609 m/1 mile=1.45*10^9 m.

time=8.5 hrs=30600 s.

w=2pi/30600 s=0.00021 rad/s

v=rw=0.00021 rad/s*1.45*10^9 m=3.0 *10^5 m/s.

The angular and linear speed of the plant can be compared to that of the earth, which has a linear speed
of 29780 m/s, which equals an angular speed of 29780 m/1.50*10^11 m=2.0*10^-7 rad/s. The planet rotates much faster than the earth around the star.

Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth
http://news.discovery.com/space/alien-life-exoplanets/kepler-78b-mystery-exoplanet-shouldnt-even-exist-131030.htm

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