Astronomy- PH263

30 hour lecture series

1. Fox, John D, Astronomy: Journey to the Cosmic Frontier (1995), Mcgraw -Hill

2. Zeilik, Michael and Gregory, Stephen A., Introductory Astronomy and Astrophysics 4th Ed.
(1998), Saunders college publishing, 4thed

In addition to these, details can be found in many web sites.

For the final grade:

1. History of Astronomy
Nearly 40 different ideas regarding the birth of universe have been presented by different
Philosophers and Scientists.
Copernicus model by Copernicus (1473-1543): The earth as revolving on its axis and
considers the sun as the centre of motion for the earth and other planets, marked the greatest
of scientific revolutions.
Before Copernicus model all the theories were partially or completely incorrect. So
Copernicus model was the turning point of early Astronomy.

2. Gravity
2.1 Introduction:
The gravitational attractive force between any two masses (m1 and m2) separated by
distance r is given by
F=Gm1m2/r2

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Here r is measured between the centers of masses of two objects. Here G=6.67x10-11
Nm2/kg2 is called the gravitational constant. Because G is very small, the attractive
force between small masses is small. Because the mass of the earth is very large
compared with other masses on the earth, all the objects near the earth are pulled
toward the earth.
All the planets in solar system move around the sun due to the gravitational force
between the particular planet and the sun. The moon moves on a circular orbit
around the earth due to the gravitational force between the earth and the moon.
Because the gravitational force decreases with the distance, the gravitational force
exerted by another planet on a person on the earth is negligible. Also the
gravitational force due to earth or another planet gradually decreases with the
distance from that planet, and finally becomes zero. So there are places with zero
gravity in the space. This zero gravity is sometimes called micro-gravity. Also there
are places with really large gravity, these are called black holes.
The weight of an object is defined as the gravitational force exerted on that object
and it is given by W=mg. Here g is the gravitational acceleration. Value of g is 9.8
ms-2 on the earth. But the mass of object (m) depends only on the amount of the
matter inside that object.
Near the earth surface,
The gravitational force exerted by the earth on a mass m=F=GMEm/rE2
Here ME and rE are the mass and the radius of the earth, respectively.

F=GMEm/rE2

Earth
ME

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On the other hand,
F=mg
So, mg= GMEm/rE2
g= GME/rE2
So, g depends on the mass of the planet and the radius of the planet.
The mass of the Mars is less than that of the earth. Also the mass of our moon is less
than that of Mars. The gravity near the surface of moon is one sixth (1/6) of that near
the earth. Also the gravity near the Mars is 0.375 times the gravity near earth. Due to
low gravity, the walk on the moon is different from the walk on earth. When
someone walks on the moon, he has to jump like a Kangaroo or a horse. Also the
weight measured by a spring scale of the same object is different on different
planets, as the weight measured by the spring scale is simply the gravitational pull.
But the mass of a particular object measured by a Libra is same even on different
planets, because the same gravitational force is exerted on both objects on two plates
of the Libra.

Mg’ mg’
If M=unknown weight, and
m=standard weight,
then Mg’=mg’.
So M=m, independent of gravity.

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 Moon

Earth

Centrifugal force=mv2/r
Because the moon goes around the earth on a circular orbit,
GmM/r2=mv2/r
Here r=distance between the centers of the earth and the moon
M=Mass of the earth
m=Mass of moon
GM/r=v2
This equation is used to calculate the mass of a planet (M). For an example, when
the velocity of the moon (v) and the distance to the moon (r) are known, the mass of
the earth (M) can be found using above equation.
. There are some planets without moons. The gravitational force on a satellites
moving closer to those planets is measured to find the mass of those planets. The
diameter of a planet can be calculated using the angular size measured by a telescope
on the earth (D=Rθ ). Then the density of a planet can be calculated.

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2.2. Escape velocity:
The minimum velocity required to escape from the gravity of any planet is called the
escape velocity.
F=GMm/r2
Here M and m are the masses of the planet and the object, respectively. The work
done to bring the mass (m) from the surface of the earth (r=rE) to a point at infinity is
given by

∞ ∞ GMm
W = ∫ Fdr = ∫ dr
r 2
E
r r
E
GMm ∞ GMm
W = [− ]r =
r E r
E
For conservative forces this work done is the change of kinetic energy.
If the escape velocity of the considered object near the earth is V E and it’s velocity at
infinity is zero.

GMm 1 2
= mV −0
r 2 E
E
2GM
Escape velocity=VE =
r
E

So the escape velocity depends on the mass of the planet and the radius of the planet.
But VE does not depend on the mass of escaping object. When the moving velocity
of a gas atom exceeds the escape velocity, that gas atom can escape from that planet.
So that particular gas will not exist on that planet. The speed of a gas atom increases
with the temperature. The lighter gas atoms such as H 2 and He move faster than
heavier gas atoms at same temperature, and H2 and He can easily escape from a
planet.

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 Compare earth, our moon and Mars.
(i) Earth: Higher escape velocity. Therefore, fast moving light gases such
as H2 gas can not be found as free gases in atmosphere of the earth.
But slowly moving heavy gases such as O2 and N2 exist in our
atmosphere. Also our atmosphere burns the meteors entering our
atmosphere. So craters can not be seen on the surface of our earth.
(ii) Mars Planet: intermediate escape velocity. Only the heaviest elements
such as CO2 and water vapor exist in the atmosphere of Mars. But O2
does not exist, because the escape velocity on the Mars is smaller than
the moving speed of O2 gas.
(iii) Our moon: Smallest escape velocity. All the gases escape, and the
gases do not exist on the moon. Because there is not an atmosphere on
the moon, meteors directly hit on the surface of the moon, and make
craters.