Kepler's Laws

Multiple Choice

Which of the following best describes what Kepler's Laws help us understand?

• The orbits of objects in space

• The composition of stars

• The temperature of planets

• The distance between galaxies

Fill in the Blanks

Kepler's Laws govern the orbits of objects in

.

Multiple Choice

Who was Johannes Kepler and what was his main contribution to astronomy?

• An astronomer with a additional talent in mathematics, who developed the 3 Laws of Planetary Motion

• A physicist who discovered gravity

• An astronomer who invented the telescope

• A philosopher who studied the stars

Multiple Select

Which of the following statements are true about the orbits of planets according to Kepler's First Law?

• The orbits are ellipses with the sun at one focus

• The other focus is of no particular significance

• The orbits are perfect circles

• The eccentricity and length of a semimajor axis describe the orbit

Dropdown

Kepler's ​

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Law states that planets move in an ​

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path around the ​

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Aphelion is when the orbiting body is farthest away from the the sun.

​Perihelion is where the orbiting body is closest to the sun.

​

Aphelion vs Perihelion

Multiple Choice

According to Kepler's Second Law, what does a line from a planet to the sun do over equal intervals of time?

• Sweeps over equal areas

• Moves at a constant speed

• Remains stationary

• Changes direction randomly

Multiple Choice

What does Kepler's 2nd Law state? 

• during a planet's orbit, the planet will sweep out equal areas in its orbit in equal amounts of time
• all areas are equal in space
• triangles have equal areas
• no two points in a planet's orbit are equal

Fill in the Blanks

Kepler's Third Law states that the square of a planet's orbital period is proportional to the cube of its average distance from the

.

Multiple Choice

Planets orbit the Sun in a shape called a(n)

• circle
• ellipse
• focus
• perihelion

Multiple Choice

Kepler's 2nd Law deals with 

• the shape of the planets' orbits
• the speed/area the planet travels 
• the length of time it takes the planet to orbit the sun

Multiple Choice

Kepler's first law states that the orbits of the planets are oval in shape or 

• ellipses
• perfect circles

Multiple Choice

Which term describes the time it takes for Earth to complete one circle around the sun.

• Rotation
• Revolution
• Kepler's 1st Law
• Barycenter

Multiple Choice

The point in a planets orbit where it is FARTHEST away from the sun

• aphelion
• perihelion

Multiple Choice

The point in a planets orbit where it is CLOSEST to the sun

• aphelion
• perihelion

Multiple Choice

A planet moves __________ when it is farthest from the sun.

• faster
• slower