Astronomers have observed a small, massive object at the center of our Milky Way galaxy. A ring of material orbits this massive object; the ring has a diameter of about 15 light-years and an orbital speed of about 200 km/s.
Determine the mass M of the massive object at the center of the Milky Way galaxy. Take the distance of one light-year to be 9.461 x 10¹⁵m.

M = 42.553· kg

Explanation: A orbit where a body remains traveling around a gravitating mass at constant radius is called Circular Orbit. Although in reality the orbit is more like an ellipse, the circular orbit is a good approximation to the real one.

In that system, it is possible to determine the velocity needed to maintain the orbit. The formula is:  v = , where:

v is velocity;

G is the gravitational constant( = 6.67·)

M is the mass of the gravitating mass;

r is the distance between the center of the massive object and the orbiting object;

But, this question is asking for the mass M, so, rearraging:

Transforming light-years in metres and dividing by 2 to find the radius:

r = (15.9.461 x 10¹⁵)· = 70.9575

M =

M = 42.553.kg

The mass of the massive object at the center of the ring is 42.553.kg.

c) up

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