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Last Post 3/22/2018 3:29 PM by  Christina Cohen
Parker Solar Probe: Speed of Probe
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Carole Holmberg Museum of York County (SC)





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3/22/2018 11:57 AM
    from webinar:

    From Carole Holmberg Museum of York County, Rock Hill, SC : Why is it (Parker Solar Probe) going so fast? How will it slow down?

    Christina Cohen



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    Posts:148
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    3/22/2018 3:29 PM
    Hi,

    The Earth itself is going pretty fast around the Sun (about 67,000 mph), so just by starting on the Earth Solar Probe is going pretty fast.

    There is a law of physics known as one of Kepler's laws of planetary motion that tells us that when an orbit of a body (like Solar Probe) is not a perfect circle, but rather an ellipse (as Solar Probe's orbit will be), the speed is not constant around the orbit. Thus Solar Probe will speed up as it moves closer to the Sun and then slow back down as it moves back towards Earth's orbit.

    -Christina

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