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Orbital Period According to Kepler's Third Law, the orbital period $T$ is defined as $$T=2\pi\sqrt \frac{a^3}{\mu}$$ $T$ is, as said before, the orbital period (i.e. the time for an object - in this case, the planet - to complete an orbit around the massive, central object - in this case, the star) measured in seconds. $a$ is the object's semi-major axis (...

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The formula for orbital period is given on Wikipedia: $$T=2\pi \sqrt\frac{a^3}\mu$$ where: $T$ is the orbital period in seconds $a$ is the orbit's semi-major axis in meters $\mu = GM$ is the standard gravitational parameter $G$ is the gravitational constant $M$ is the mass of the more massive body in kilograms So \$T = 2 \pi \sqrt \frac { (172 \cdot 10^9) ^...

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Suppose you had a giant planet with a central temperature/density too low to sustain D fusion (i.e. below about 13 Jupiter masses). You then magically are able to increase the density by somehow driving the mass of the planet inwards (which will actually increase both the density and temperature). It is the temperature rise that is important. The energy per ...

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Or did I miss something about hydrogen bombs? You missed something about hydrogen bombs. The center of our Sun is the equivalent of a warm compost pile in terms of energy produced per unit volume. A multistage thermonuclear weapon briefly (very briefly) compresses and heats the fusible material in the bomb to conditions far beyond those found in our Sun, ...

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