... Kepler's Laws . ... Second Law . 12a. More on 2nd Law . ... Kepler's 2nd law prescribes the way the velocity V of an object orbiting a single center varies around its orbit: . The rate at which the line to the center ("radius vector") covers area does not change around the orbit." As noted in section #12 , this means that the object's velocity V increases when its distance r decreases, and vice versa. ... Because by Kepler's 2nd law, the Earth moves in its orbit a little faster in winter. ...
... With enough velocity, a spacecraft can break loose from the Earth's gravity and enter an orbit around the Sun, like that of a planet. If it then orbits the Sun with the same period as the Earth--one year--it may keep a fixed position relative to Earth. ... If the distance is just right--about 4 times the distance to the Moon or 1/100 the distance to the Sun--the spacecraft, too, will need just one year to go around the Sun, and will keep its position between the Sun and the Earth. ...
Hubble Finds Oxygen Atmosphere On Jupiter's Moon Europa . Astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope (HST) have identified the presence of an extremely tenuous atmosphere of molecular oxygen around Jupiter's second moon, Europa . ... Europa's oxygen atmosphere is so tenuous that its surface pressure is barely one hundred billionth that of the Earth," said Principal Investigator Doyle Hall, of Johns Hopkins. ... The oxygen gas slowly leaks into space and must be replenished continuously. ...