Comment on This Earth-sized Exoplanet is On a Death Spiral
HurlingDurling@lemmy.world 1 day agoSo much math here that my head is already overheating. I need to find the time to learn all this math. Kudos to you internet stranger on your examplary calculations.
kichae@wanderingadventure.party 1 day ago
The numbers are big, so it can be intimidating, but the math isn’t too bad. It’s a little bit of multiplication and division. The most daunting bit is a cube-root, which you can find on most scientific calculators these days.
It’s hunting down the numbers you need to use that’s the trick, and making sure they’re all in the right units.
The equation for the Roche limit is the most complex math, but that’s just something you look up:
Roche Limit = 2.44 x {the radius of the star} x cube-root(( {the mass of the planet} / {the radius of the planet}^3 ) / ( {the mass of the star} / {the radius of the star}^3 ))
All of the things in the braces are also just values you look up.