Practice problem
Newtonian Two-Body Problem
+1 contributors
Contributors
The Sun and all other bodies in the solar system are in mutual orbit around one another. Because the Sun is by far the most massive thing in the system, it remains near to the center-of-mass and we can say that the planets go around the Sun. But how good is that assumption?
Jupiter has a mass of 9.543 x 10^-4 solar masses, and is far more massive than the rest of the planets put together. Its mutual orbit with the Sun has a semi-major axis of 5.2026 astronomical units.
The Sun's radius is 0.004655 AU. How many solar radii does the Sun move relative to the center-of-mass of the solar system due to Jupiter?