Many of the bright stars in the night sky are highly luminous normal blue stars (such as Acrux), and others are blue giants (such as Rigel) or red giants (such as Betelgeuse). Generally, such stars have a luminosity of 10³ to 10 times that of our Sun! Ignoring any effects from our atmosphere, how bright would a star with a luminosity of 69900 solar luminosities be if it were located 375 light years from Earth? (You will need to convert some values.) W/m² For comparison, if you were 1 meter from a regular 100 W light bulb, the brightness would be 7.96 W/m². (Since stars are not this bright, your answer should be considerably less!) Kind amazing you can see these things, isn't it?

Applications and Investigations in Earth Science (9th Edition)
9th Edition
ISBN:9780134746241
Author:Edward J. Tarbuck, Frederick K. Lutgens, Dennis G. Tasa
Publisher:Edward J. Tarbuck, Frederick K. Lutgens, Dennis G. Tasa
Chapter1: The Study Of Minerals
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Many of the bright stars in the night sky are highly luminous normal blue stars (such as Acrux), and others are blue giants (such as Rigel) or red giants (such as Betelgeuse). Generally, such stars have a luminosity of 10³ to 10⁵ times that of our Sun!

Ignoring any effects from our atmosphere, how bright would a star with a luminosity of 69,900 solar luminosities be if it were located 375 light years from Earth?

(You will need to convert some values.)

[Input Box] W/m²

For comparison, if you were 1 meter from a regular 100 W light bulb, the brightness would be 7.96 W/m². (Since stars are not this bright, your answer should be considerably less!) Kind of amazing you can see these things, isn't it?
Transcribed Image Text:Many of the bright stars in the night sky are highly luminous normal blue stars (such as Acrux), and others are blue giants (such as Rigel) or red giants (such as Betelgeuse). Generally, such stars have a luminosity of 10³ to 10⁵ times that of our Sun! Ignoring any effects from our atmosphere, how bright would a star with a luminosity of 69,900 solar luminosities be if it were located 375 light years from Earth? (You will need to convert some values.) [Input Box] W/m² For comparison, if you were 1 meter from a regular 100 W light bulb, the brightness would be 7.96 W/m². (Since stars are not this bright, your answer should be considerably less!) Kind of amazing you can see these things, isn't it?
Expert Solution
Step 1

The INVERSE-SQUARE LAW in relation to apparent brightness and luminosity is given by the equation:

b = L / (4 pi d2)

where,

  • b = apparent brightness of the star (in watts/meter2)
  • L = luminosity of the star (in watts)
  • d = distance to the star (in meters)
  • pi = approximately 3.14159265

With this formula we will calculate brightness of the star given in the question

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