Astronomy/Jupiter's moon

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Expert: Jayendra Upadhye - 4/17/2004


Question
How does the slight ellipticity of Io's orbit affect its speed along its orbit?

Thanks for your response,

joel

Answer
Hi Joe,
Why shouldnt that be clear by Kepler's second law?
   It states that "a line connecting a planet to the sun will sweep out equal areas in equal times"..replace the sun with Jupiter and "planet" with Io.
  The second law also means that "a satellite's orbital speed changes with its distance from its parent planet".
   So the answer to your question is that it's orbital speed will vary in proportion to its "ellipticity".
Jayen

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Jayendra Upadhye

Expertise

1 - General questions on most astronomy topics such as:- Solar system, Cosmology, Black holes, Quasars, Dark matter etc. 2 - General questions about the geologies of planets. 3 - General questions about Orbits and laws governing them. 4 - General questions about rockets / spaceships 5 - General questions about stellar interiors and supernovas.

Experience

I was an askme.com expert rated no#1 for quite some time - and was top ten there by the time it closed - in Astronomy and general science categories.

Education/Credentials
Bachelor of Engg. (Electrical engg), Maharaja Sayajirao university of Baroda, Gujarat, India.

Awards and Honors
None to write about except the askme rating if it is any worth!

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