Question

Please explain how to answer this question?

Use the following data for Saturn to calculate the mass of the sun. The period of Saturn is 9.3*10^8 s and the mean orbital radius is 1.43*10^12 m.

Thank you!

Answer 1

Assuming a circular orbit at the mean radius

The centripetal force to keep the body in that orbit is
\[mr \omega ^{2}\]

The force of gravity between the two bodies is

\[\frac{ GM _{sun}m _{Saturn} }{ r ^{2} }\]

These two forces are equal

So using
G (universal gravitational constant)
Omega (= 2pi/period)
r = given radius

you can calculate M

Answer 2

Thank you so much!!