Natural Sciences >> Physics

Calculating The Area Under The Ellipse of 2014MU-69

by Aurielle Collins

 

Submitted : Fall 2018


The objective of this project is to calculate the area under the ellipse of the 2014MU69 located in the Kuiper Belt. On January 1st, 2019 The New Horizons space craft will fly past 2014MU69. There is a lot of interest for this object since it is new to the astronomy community and is one of the furthest objects to be studied by a passing by probe in our solar system.

Knowing the area under the ellipse of an object is important to the astronomy community including the research of particle physics with an emphasis on dark matter and neutrino masses. Once you know the area of “something” you can calculate other quantities. If you know how much of “something” can fit in a certain space and you know the amount of space you are working with, then it becomes easier to know what makes up that space. Example being dark matter fitting in a section or area. Many researchers are trying to understand dark matter. Ways for understanding a substance are seeing how it can fit in a space or area. Finding the area under an ellipse would be the first step to understanding what can be held within that area.


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Advisors :
David Milligan, Mathematics and Statistics
Kevin Mackay; Larry Fineberg, Physics; NASA
Suggested By :
Larry Fineberg