The Orbit of Hale-Bopp Comet, Discovered in 1995, Is an Ellipse

question 18

Short Answer

The orbit of Hale-Bopp comet, discovered in 1995, is an ellipse with eccentricity $0.995$ and one focus at the Sun. The length of its major axis is $366.5 \mathrm { AU }$ . [An astronomical unit (AU) is the mean distance between Earth and the Sun, about 93 million miles.] Find the maximum distance from the comet to the Sun. (The perihelion distance from a planet to the Sun is $a ( 1 - e )$ and the aphelion distance is $a ( 1 + e )$ .) Find the answer in AU and round to the nearest hundredth.

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Definitions:

Shoe Department

A specialized division within a retail store or company dedicated to the sale and promotion of footwear.

Fixed Manufacturing Cost

Costs that do not vary with the level of production output, such as rent, salaries, and insurance, which are necessary for the production process but remain constant regardless of the units produced.

Units Produced

The total number of units of product completed in a given period by a company.

Contribution Margin

The amount remaining from sales revenue after variable expenses are deducted, contributing to covering fixed costs and generating profit.