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Mechanics

Kepler’s Laws of Planetary Motion

The mathematician, Kepler analysed the data resulting from the observations of the Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe. He summarised his findings in three laws.

Law 1

Each planet orbits the sun in an elliptical path with the sun at one focus of the ellipse.

Law 2

A line from the sun to a planet sweeps out equal areas in equal times.

Law 3

The square of the time period of a planet is directly proportional to the cube of its mean distance from the sun.
     
  1. The elliptical orbits are not very eccentric. They are very nearly circular.
  2. Law two can be shown to be a direct result of he law of conservation of angular momentum.
  3. Law three is usually written
   

 

 

 

 

 

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