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Figuring Orbital Velocity


bigbywolfe

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Does anyone have a simple way to determine Orbital Velocity? It doesn't need to be exact, just a decent estimate. It's one of the things listed with every planet in Star Hero, yet it's one of the few things the book doesn't have a instructions to figure out (unless I'm just missing it).

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orbital_speed

http://formulas.tutorvista.com/physi...y-formula.html

orbital-velocity-formula.png

Where G is gravitational constant,

M is the mass of the body at center,

R is radius of orbit.

 

Orbital Velocity Formula is used to find the orbital velocity or orbital speed of the any planet if mass M and radius R are known. It is expressed in meter per second (m/s).

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Calculate the velocity for an orbit equal to Earth's surface (that's something like 8 km/second, I think). Then, to calculate a velocity for any orbit for any planet, just multiply that velocity with the square root of (planet's mass in Earth masses divided by orbit's radius in Earth radii).

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You're probably right. I guess I'm just having issues getting this:

08d1d0734a57cadf71b2f884186ab674.png

into the calculator. I'm still trying.

You don't have to put all the units into your calculator, just the 6.7x10^-11. As long as you make sure masses are in (many) kilos and distances are in (many) meters, the velocity will come out in meters per second.

 

I don't even know what that (80) is in there, that makes no sense.

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  • 1 month later...
Calculate the velocity for an orbit equal to Earth's surface (that's something like 8 km/second, I think). Then, to calculate a velocity for any orbit for any planet, just multiply that velocity with the square root of (planet's mass in Earth masses divided by orbit's radius in Earth radii).
Easier way, take the moon's orbital as a radius (384,399km), and it's velocity 1.022 km/s. Multiply by Square root (object being orbited mass in Earth Masses divided by orbit's radius in moon orbit radii).

Easier to find the figures.

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