Astr 345 Assignment 1: General properties of the major bodies in our solar system
Due before midnight Fri, Aug 29, 2008 (full credit), before midnight Fri Sep 5, 2008 (half credit)
Summary This assignment is in three parts: (i) tabulation of information, (ii) plotting it, (iii) interpretation. All
information must be typed. All plots must be computer-generated. Having this information with you in every
lecture will help you to follow the discussion.
Tabulation Construct and complete a data table like the one found below. Some notes on the columns: (1) the
object’s most common name, (2) distance from the Sun in Astronomical Units, where Earth’s distance is 1.0,
(3) mean diameter in Earth units, (4) mass in Earth units, e.g., Pluto would be 0.0002, (5) density is in
kilograms per cubic meter, which is a standard unit, (6) temperature is in degrees kelvin, list either the
maximum/minimum values, OR the average value, whichever is given, (7) list the number of moons, (8) ”yes”
or ”no” in this column, noting that four objects in the solar system have rings of debris around them. You must
CITE the references of all of your numbers (the textbook has appendices and tables throughout).
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8)
Object Distance Diameter Mass Density Temperature Mo ons Rings?
(AU) (Earth = 1) (kg/m3) Max/min or avg (#) (y/n)
Mercury
Venus
Earth
Earth’s Moon
Mars
Ceres
Jupiter
Saturn
Uranus
Neptune
Pluto
Plotting Plots must be computer-generated, and fully labelled. If in doubt, then go to the website below to see
exactly what it is that will earn full points: http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/astronomy/planets/
You can use any plotting software you want, but I recommend gnuplot for its ease of use, intuitive
command-line interface, and ability to plot curves.
Plotting is a quick and easy way to see trends in a set of numbers. Plots should be simple x-y scatter graphs. I
want to see the following:
1. Temperature (y) vs distance (x). Add to your graph a straight, horizontal line at the temperature where
water freezes, and where water boils.
2. Density (y) vs distance (x). Add to your graph the following densities as horizontal lines: quartz (2,650
kg/m3), water liquid (1,000 kg/m3), water solid (917 kg/m3at 273 K).
3. Density (y) vs diameter.
4. Number of moons (y) vs mass (x).
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