Determining Binary Star Orbits with Kepler's Equation

Item

Title

Determining Binary Star Orbits with Kepler's Equation

Description

David F. Putnam Science Center, Room 282

Binary stars are two stars that are gravitationally bound in orbit around their center of mass. Orbital positions are characterized by the pair's separation (their observed angular distance from one another) and position angle (PA, the pair's relative orientation from North). Observed orbital parameters are obtained from the Washington Double Star catalog for four binary stars and are used to solve Kepler's equation. This equation was formulated by Johannes Kepler and describes the orbit of two gravitationally bound objects. The orbit calculations are performed in Excel to determine the separation and PA for chosen dates and are plotted to display an entire orbit graphically. For comparison, field measurements are made using a computer aided telescope and analyzed in Adobe Photoshop. The measured separation and PA are then plotted on the same graph along with the calculated values for the same date. Measured results are in good agreement with calculated values.

Keith Goodale

Steven Harfenist

Contributor

Keene State College

Creator

Andrews, Katelyn

Boule, Cory

Date

2016-04-09

Identifier

https://commons.keene.edu/s/KSCArchive/item/21055

Subject

Physics

Type

Presentation

Rights

http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Item sets

AEC 2016 School of Sciences and Social Sciences

Site pages

School of Sciences and Social Sciences