Name: Anonymous 2006-11-26 16:29
Find the distance between the stars in a binary system if the overall mass of the system is M= 4.6x10^30 kg and the period of revolution is 8.8 x 10^7 s. Give your answer in Gm (1Gm=10^9m).
So I'm all like: "Easy, use Keplers second law yeah?"
r^3 / t^2 = GM/ (4*Pi^2) ; where M = (m1 + m2) = mass of the system
so I get r = 0.881 gigameters or 8.81x10^8 meters
But the answer is apparently 391.9 gigameters.
What did I do wrong?
So I'm all like: "Easy, use Keplers second law yeah?"
r^3 / t^2 = GM/ (4*Pi^2) ; where M = (m1 + m2) = mass of the system
so I get r = 0.881 gigameters or 8.81x10^8 meters
But the answer is apparently 391.9 gigameters.
What did I do wrong?