Testing Kepler’s third law

Subject:

In this session, using real data, the students test Kepler’s 3rd law. They compute the masses of several
stars.

Level: High school
Time: approximately 2 hours

Prerequisites:

• Kepler’s laws

Objectives:

Calculate the mass of stars from the motion of exoplanets orbiting them.

Equipment required:

• 1 computer with spreadsheet software (Excel, Open Office Calc, etc.)

Subject, Appendices and correction:

• Subject
• Appendices : systemesolaire.ods
• Appendices : trapist_1.csv
• Appendices : kepler-90.csv
• Appendices : solarsystem.py
• Appendices

Author : Benjamin Mollier, Académie de Versailles