In: Physics
A neutron star is an astrophysical object having a mass of roughly 2.8 × 1030 kg (about 1.4 times the mass of the sun) but a radius of only about 12 km. If you were in a circular orbit of radius 320 km (about 200 mi), how long would it take you to go once around the star? Show all steps and give reasoning.
The gravitational acceleration towards the star is
where G is the gravitational constant, M is the mass of the neutron star, r is the radial distance from the center of the star. r = 320 km
This acceleration is balanced by the outwards centrifugal acceleration
where is the angular velocity of the circular orbit
Equating the two accelerations:
The time period of revolution around the star is