An asteroid is headed for Earth! Its closest approach will take it just above our atmosphere, 500 km above sea level. As it passes the orbit of the Moon (much further away than closest approach), you observe an atomic emission line from the asteroid’s thin atmosphere (at rest with respect to the asteroid). You measure a blueshift velocity of 30 km/s and tell the news media that there’s nothing to worry about. What spectral resolution (R = λ/∆λ) would your spectrograph need to have for the public at large to believe you? Assume that ∆λ is the uncertainty in spectral resolution (the usual assumption for astronomers), and clearly state your minimum S/N assumed for a “believable” result
An asteroid is headed for Earth! Its closest approach will take it just above our atmosphere, 500 km above sea level. As it passes the orbit of the Moon (much further away than closest approach), you observe an atomic emission line from the asteroid’s thin atmosphere (at rest with respect to the asteroid). You measure a blueshift velocity of 30 km/s and tell the news media that there’s nothing to worry about. What spectral resolution (R = λ/∆λ) would your spectrograph need to have for the public at large to believe you? Assume that ∆λ is the uncertainty in spectral resolution (the usual assumption for astronomers), and clearly state your minimum S/N assumed for a “believable” result
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An asteroid is headed for Earth! Its closest approach will take it just above our atmosphere, 500 km above sea level. As it passes the orbit of the Moon (much further away than closest approach), you observe an atomic emission line from the asteroid’s thin atmosphere (at rest with respect to the asteroid). You measure a blueshift velocity of 30 km/s and tell the news media that there’s nothing to worry about. What spectral resolution (R = λ/∆λ) would your spectrograph need to have for the public at large to believe you? Assume that ∆λ is the uncertainty in spectral resolution (the usual assumption for astronomers), and clearly state your minimum S/N assumed for a “believable” result.
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