astro_101_proj_05 (1)

Astronomy 101 Weekly Project 5 1. [Mathematical Insight 6.1] a. Mercury size: 15,329 km distance: 77 million km θ = 2 * 𝑎???𝑎?(15, 329 ?? / 2 * 77 ?𝑖??𝑖?? ??)) = 0. 01185 ?𝑎?𝑖𝑎?? θ = 0. 01185 ?𝑎?𝑖𝑎?? * (180/π) * 3600 = 764. 46 𝑎????????? b. Kepler-452b size: 14,000 km distance: 1.402*10^16 km θ = 2 * 𝑎???𝑎?(14, 000 ?? / 2 * 1. 402 * 10 16 ??)) = 2. 50 * 10 −10 ?𝑎?𝑖𝑎?? θ = 2. 50 * 10 −10 ?𝑎?𝑖𝑎?? * (180/π) * 3600 = 0. 014 𝑎????????? c. Proxima Centauri size: 1.94 trillion km distance: 4.246*10^13 km θ = 2 * 𝑎???𝑎?(1. 94 ??𝑖??𝑖?? ?? / 2 * 4. 246 * 10 13 ?𝑖??𝑖?? ??)) = 0. 02639 ?𝑎?𝑖𝑎?? θ = 0. 02639 ?𝑎?𝑖𝑎?? * (180/π) * 3600 = 452. 42 𝑎????????? https://coolcosmos.ipac.caltech.edu/ask/25-How-far-is-Mercury-from-Earth-#:~:text=Mercury%20is%20an%20average%20distance,are%20in%20their%20respective%20orbits . https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kepler-452b https://www.britannica.com/story/how-do-we-know-how-far-away-the-stars-are#:~:text=The%20closest%20star%2C%20Proxima%20Centauri,would%20take%20950%20million%20years . 2. [Related to Mathematical Insight 6.1, 6.2] To obtain the resolved images of celestial objects with a single aperture telescope, the diameter of the telescope should be larger than a minimum value. a. θ = 1. 22 * (λ/𝐷) 3. 85 * 10 −12 ?𝑎?𝑖𝑎?? = 1. 22 * (550 * 10 −9 ??????/𝐷) 𝐷 = 1. 22 * 550 * 10 −9 /3. 85 * 10 −12 = 16, 214 ?????? b. No there isn’t one, astronomers found the physical size by using the transit method and the radial velocity method which allowed them to learn more about size, mass, and composition. 3. [Chapter 6] Short research project. Choose an important observatory from the following list: ALMA, Spitzer, Herschel, Hubble Space Telescope, ESO VLT. Chandra, XMM, Swift. a. In 4-5 sentences (including diagrams or images if you wish), describe the observatory and what type of telescope it is (refractor, reflector, etc.). The Hubble Space Telescope is a Cassegrain reflector telescope. HST was designed as a general purpose observatory. The telescope orbits Earth allowing the mirrors to gather lights from the cosmos, collect images, and data. Light from the celestial objects are collected by an inward curved mirror and then reflected to a smaller outward curved secondary mirror. It was launched in 1990 and has been providing high quality images since then. b. At which wavelengths does it operate? What region of the electromagnetic spectrum does this correspond to? 100nm to about 1.6 um, this means it