Question

A planet orbiting a distant star has been observed to have an orbital period of 0.76 earth years at a distance of 1.2 au. what is the mass of the star the planet is orbiting? round your answer to the nearest whole number. solar masses

Answer 1

Based on the orbital period of the planet in earth years, and the distance it is rotating, the mass of the star that the planet is orbiting is 3 solar masses.

What is a solar mass?

Because the sun is so heavy, it needed to have a special unit that could adequately reflect this mass.

Solar masses was the term that scientists came up with. In terms of the Earth's mass, a single solar mass means that the body is 333,000 times the mass of the Earth.

When given the orbital period of a planet, and the distance it is orbiting around a sun, you can find the solar mass by the formula:

= Distance planet is rotating³ - Orbital period²

Solving gives:

= 1.2³ / 0.76²

= 2.99

= 3 solar masses

In conclusion the mass of the star is 3 solar masses

Find out more on solar masses at brainly.com/question/15693127

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