Read the article about the star Vega and the faint dust disk that may contain pl

Question

Read the article about the star Vega and the faint dust disk that may contain planets orbiting this star. http://www.universetoday.com/9074/evidence-for-planets-around-vega Write (that is, word-process) a summary of the of the article. Find and document information on the size, mass, and radius of Vega. From your reading, answer the following questions: Which planet in our solar system is similar to a planet in the faint dust disk? How far is this planet from Vega? How long does it take for this planet to revolve around Vega? Which other planet in our solar system is similar to another planet in the faint dust disk? Use the information that you gathered above estimate the time it takes the other planet from Part D to orbit Vega. Assume the planet is one-half the distance from Vega as the planet in Part A.

Explanation / Answer

1.Vega is the 3rd brightest star in the northern sky, bluish white in colour and is similar to our solar system. There has been evidence that a planet of the size similar to neptune is found in the same orbit which means that there could be more smaller rocky planets closer to this star. A faint dusk disk has been found orbiting around the star. Since Neptune was pushed away from the sun because Jupiter was orbiting inside it. Similarly it is assumed that the Vega also has a Jupiter like planet orbiting inside its smaller orbit. The disk will rotate around the star Vega once in every 300 years.

2. The size of Vega is 3 times the diameter of the sun. The mass of Vega is 4.2*10^30 kg or 2.1 times that of sun. The radius of Vega is 1.8 million km.

3.a. The faint disk orbiting the star Vega is similar to the neptune like planets orbiting in our solar system at a similar distance and with similar mass.

b. The planet has an orbit of 56 million years around the star Vega. So it is 56 million years away from the planet.

c. The planet will around the star once in every 300 years.

d. The other planet which is similar will be Jupiter. There is possibility that besides the Neptune like planet a more massive planet like Jupiter could be orbit the star.

e. Since the other planet is at half the distance of the Neptune like planet .It will take around 300/2=150 years to revolve around Vega.

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