In: Physics
Halley's comet last passed perihelion on February 9, 1986. The famous comet's orbit has semimajor axis a = 17.8 AU and eccentricity e = 0.967. Solve Kepler's equation and calculate the quantities E (radians), v= 0 (degrees), and the length of the radius vector r (from the sun, in AU) for July 10, 2015.
For simplicity, take the time of day for all dates to be exactly noon, local time. How does your value of r compare with the actual current position of the comet (no need to compare the current values of E and teta)? What might be a reason for any difference?
I do appreciate it if anyone can help me with this!