Go to the online “Extrasolar Planets Encyclopedia” (Links to an external site.) Link:
Find a planet with an orbital period similar to that of Earth. What is the planet’s name and its semimajor axis of of its orbit? If it is very different from 1 AU, then the mass of the star is different from that of the Sun. Click on the star name in the first column to see the star’s mass. What’s the star’s mass and what is the planet’s orbital eccentricity?
Click on “Planet” to sort by name, and select a star with multiple planets. Mention the star’s name and its planets. Verify that Kepler’s third law applies by showing that the value P2/A3 is about the same for at least two of the planets of this star. How eccentric are the orbits of the multiple planets? (Remember the orbital period needs to be in years to do the simple calculation!)
