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written by
Laurence Marschall, Glenn Snyder, P. Richard Cooper, Michael Hayden, and Rhonda Good
educational validator:
HelenMarie Hofman
supported by
the National Science Foundation
The purpose of this lab is to illustrate the measurement of the mass of a planet using Kepler's third law. The software provides a view of Jupiter at four magnifications, along with a highly accurate ephemeris program that draws the four Galilean satellites in their proper positions relative to the planet at any time. Students make observations of Jupiter and its satellites at regular intervals over a period of several weeks and, by graphing the separation of each moon from Jupiter versus time, they measure the period and radius of each satellite's orbit. This is sufficient information to derive the mass of Jupiter. Students use the mouse cursor to identify the moons and to measure distances.
This is part of a larger collection of simulations, Project CLEA, hosted at Gettysburg College.
Please note that this resource requires
at least version 95 of MS-Windows.
<a href="https://www.compadre.org/astronomy/items/detail.cfm?ID=7810">Marschall, L, G. Snyder, P. Cooper, M. Hayden, and R. Good. CLEA: The Revolution of the Moons of Jupiter. August 5, 2008.</a>
L. Marschall, G. Snyder, P. Cooper, M. Hayden, and R. Good, CLEA: The Revolution of the Moons of Jupiter (2006), <http://public.gettysburg.edu/~marschal/clea/juplab.html>.
Marschall, L., Snyder, G., Cooper, P., Hayden, M., & Good, R. (2008, August 5). CLEA: The Revolution of the Moons of Jupiter. Retrieved February 15, 2026, from http://public.gettysburg.edu/~marschal/clea/juplab.html
Marschall, L, G. Snyder, P. Cooper, M. Hayden, and R. Good. CLEA: The Revolution of the Moons of Jupiter. August 5, 2008. http://public.gettysburg.edu/~marschal/clea/juplab.html (accessed 15 February 2026).
Marschall, Laurence, Glenn Snyder, P. Richard Cooper, Michael Hayden, and Rhonda Good. CLEA: The Revolution of the Moons of Jupiter. 2006. 5 Aug. 2008. National Science Foundation. 15 Feb. 2026 <http://public.gettysburg.edu/~marschal/clea/juplab.html>.
@misc{
Author = "Laurence Marschall and Glenn Snyder and P. Richard Cooper and Michael Hayden and Rhonda Good",
Title = {CLEA: The Revolution of the Moons of Jupiter},
Volume = {2026},
Number = {15 February 2026},
Month = {August 5, 2008},
Year = {2006}
}
%A Laurence Marschall %A Glenn Snyder %A P. Richard Cooper %A Michael Hayden %A Rhonda Good %T CLEA: The Revolution of the Moons of Jupiter %D August 5, 2008 %U http://public.gettysburg.edu/~marschal/clea/juplab.html %O application/exe
%0 Electronic Source %A Marschall, Laurence %A Snyder, Glenn %A Cooper, P. Richard %A Hayden, Michael %A Good, Rhonda %D August 5, 2008 %T CLEA: The Revolution of the Moons of Jupiter %V 2026 %N 15 February 2026 %8 August 5, 2008 %9 application/exe %U http://public.gettysburg.edu/~marschal/clea/juplab.html
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