Astronomy
1st Edition
ISBN: 9781938168284
Author: Andrew Fraknoi; David Morrison; Sidney C. Wolff
Publisher: OpenStax
expand_more
expand_more
format_list_bulleted
Videos
Textbook Question
Chapter 19, Problem 12E
For centuries, astronomers wondered whether comets were true celestial objects, like the planets and stars, or a phenomenon that occurred in the atmosphere of Earth. Describe an experiment to determine which of these two possibilities is correct.
Expert Solution & Answer
Want to see the full answer?
Check out a sample textbook solution
Students have asked these similar questions
A)At what altitude would a geostationary sattelite need to be above the surface of Mars? Assume the mass of Mars is 6.39 x 1023 kg, the length of a martian solar day is 24 hours 39minutes 35seconds, the length of the sidereal day is 24hours 37minutes 22seconds, and the equatorial radius is 3396 km. The answer can be calculated using Newton's verison of Kepler's third law.
+1x
cture.com/courses/71876/quizzes/249540/take
A Polynomial Operations
A comet is cruising through the solar system at a velocity of 50,000
km per hour for four hours. What is the total distance traveled by
the comet?
Do not enter your units for this problem. Just enter your numerical
answer. Make sure to include commas if necessary.
甲 直
1- MODIS is an Earth Observation sensor onboard TERRA spacecraft flying in a near-polar circular orbit with an orbital period of 98.8 minutes. The width of the swath imaged by MODIS is 2330 km.
A- How many orbits does TERRA trace in one day?
B- Assuming that the Earth rotates around its polar axis at a rate of 0.2618 rd/hr and that the equatorial radius is 6378 km, do two consecutive swaths of MODIS overlap at the equator? (hint: the length of an arc = angle in rd * radius)
C- The radius of the latitude circle at 35 deg is 5224.5 km. Do two consecutive swaths of MODIS overlap at latitude 35 deg?
2- An aerostationary orbit for Mars is equivalent to a geostationary orbit for Earth. It is designed to enable a satellite in that orbit to image always the same surface of Mars. Calculate the altitude of an aerostationary orbit assuming that Mars is spherical, that its sidereal rotational period is 1.02595676 Earth days, its equatorial radius is 3389.50 km and its mass is…
Chapter 19 Solutions
Astronomy
Ch. 19 - Explain how parallax measurements can be used to...Ch. 19 - Suppose you have discovered a new cepheid variable...Ch. 19 - Explain how you would use the spectrum of a star...Ch. 19 - Which method would you use to obtain the distance...Ch. 19 - What are the luminosity class and spectral type of...Ch. 19 - The meter was redefined as a reference to Earth,...Ch. 19 - While a meter is the fundamental unit of length,...Ch. 19 - Most distances in the Galaxy are measured in...Ch. 19 - The AU is defined as the average distance between...Ch. 19 - What would be the advantage of making parallax...
Ch. 19 - Parallaxes are measured in fractions of an...Ch. 19 - For centuries, astronomers wondered whether comets...Ch. 19 - The Sun is much closer to Earth than are the...Ch. 19 - Parallaxes of stars are sometimes measured...Ch. 19 - Estimating the luminosity class of an M star is...Ch. 19 - Figure 19.9 is the light curve for the prototype...Ch. 19 - Which of the following can you determine about a...Ch. 19 - A G2 star has a luminosity 100 times that of the...Ch. 19 - A star has a temperature of 10,000 K and a...Ch. 19 - What is the advantage of measuring a parallax...Ch. 19 - What is the disadvantage of the parallax method,...Ch. 19 - Luhman 16 and WISE 0720 are brown dwarfs, also...Ch. 19 - Most stars close to the Sun are red dwarfs. What...Ch. 19 - Why would it be easier to measure the...Ch. 19 - When Henrietta Leavitt discovered the...Ch. 19 - A radar astronomer who is new at the job claims...Ch. 19 - The New Horizons probe flew past Pluto in July...Ch. 19 - Estimate the maximum and minimum time it takes a...Ch. 19 - The Apollo program (not the lunar missions with...Ch. 19 - In 1974, the Arecibo Radio telescope in Puerto...Ch. 19 - Demonstrate that 1 pc equals 3.091013 k m and that...Ch. 19 - The best parallaxes obtained with Hipparcos have...Ch. 19 - Astronomers are always making comparisons between...Ch. 19 - Gaia will have greatly improved precision over the...Ch. 19 - Using the same techniques as used in Exercise...Ch. 19 - The human eye is capable of an angular resolution...Ch. 19 - How much better is the resolution of the Gaia...Ch. 19 - The most recently discovered system close to Earth...Ch. 19 - What would the parallax of Luhman 16 (see Exercise...Ch. 19 - The New Horizons probe that passed by Pluto during...Ch. 19 - What physical properties are different for an M...
Additional Science Textbook Solutions
Find more solutions based on key concepts
The correct option.
Glencoe Physical Science 2012 Student Edition (Glencoe Science) (McGraw-Hill Education)
Which has more mass, a 2-kg fluffy pillow or a 3-kg small piece of iron? Which has more volume? Why are your an...
Conceptual Integrated Science
10.37 Find the magnitude of the angular momentum of the second hand on a clock about an axis through the center...
University Physics with Modern Physics (14th Edition)
How are the motions in parts C and D similar? How do they differ? How are the graphs similar? How do they diffe...
Tutorials in Introductory Physics
Explain all answers clearly, with complete sentences and proper essay structure if needed. An asterisk (*) desi...
Cosmic Perspective Fundamentals
Knowledge Booster
Learn more about
Need a deep-dive on the concept behind this application? Look no further. Learn more about this topic, physics and related others by exploring similar questions and additional content below.Similar questions
- Until recently, the term "planet" had no clear-cut definition. In August of 2006, leading astronomers established new guidelines and declared that Pluto is no longer a planet. Which of the following is either false or least consistent with the new guidelines? Group of answer choices Pluto is by far the largest known object in the Kuiper belt, while Eris is the largest known object in the asteroid belt. A planet must have cleared the neighborhood around its orbit. Pluto is automatically disqualified from being a planet because its oblong orbit overlaps with Neptune's. A planet must have sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a nearly round shape. Pluto and the asteroid Ceres are both now classified as dwarf planets.arrow_forwardYou are planning a dream vacation to Mars. For the orbital dynamics part of the vacation planning assume that Earth is in a circular orbit 1.00 AU from the Sun and Mars is in a circular orbit 1.52 AU from the Sun. Assume the the orbits of Earth and Mars are coplanar and that they go around the Sun the same way. The orbit you plan to use for your trip is an ellipse with the Sun at one focus (Kepler's 1st Law). The perihelion of the ellipse is at Earth's orbit at 1.00 AU and the aphelion is at Mars' orbit at 1.52 AU. Your spacecraft will go around the Sun in the same sense as Earth and Mars. The orbit you have chosen is called a Hohmann Transfer Orbit. A. What is the semi-major axis a of the spacecraft's orbit? What is the eccentricity of the spacecraft's orbit? B. What is the orbital period of the spacecraft? How long does it take to get to Mars? How long does it take to get back? C. When (at what Earth - Mars configuration) do you launch to go? In other words, where does Mars need to…arrow_forwardA new planet is discovered orbiting a distant star. Observations have confirmed that the planet has a circular orbit with a radius of 12 AU and takes 117 days to orbit the star. Determine the mass of the star. State your answer with appropriate mks units. [NOTE: AU ..stands.for...astronomical unit". It is the average distance between Earth & the Sun. 1 AU≈ 1.496 x 1011 m.] Enter a number with units. I be quite large and your calculator will display the answer as a power of 10. If, as an example, your answer was 8.54 x 1056, you would type "8.54e56" into the answer box (remember to state your units with your answer).]arrow_forward
- The average Earth-Moon distance is 3.84 X 10^5 km, while the Earth-Sun is 1.496 X 10^8 km. Since the radius of the Moon is 1.74 X 10^3 km and that of the Sun is 6.96 X 10^5 km. a) Calculate the angular radius of the Moon and the Sun, qmax, according to the following figure. D Bax R b) Calculate the solid angle of the Moon and the Sun as seen from Earth. (c) Interpret its results; Would this be enough to explain the occurrence of total solar eclipses?arrow_forwardI was able to determine the semi-major axis of Jupiter's moons by multiplying the angle of separation (in radians) with the distance between Earth and Jupiter. Briefly explain why this method works (i.e. why we are able to multiply by only the angle rather than sin(angle)).arrow_forwardf the semi-major axis, a, is measured in AU and the orbital period, p, is measured in years, then Kepler's 3rd law allows us to calculate the mass of the object they are orbiting using the following equation: M = a3/p2 Furthermore, the mass that is calculated by this equation is given in solar masses (MSun) where, by definition, the Sun's mass is 1 MSun. Now, suppose I were to tell you that the mass of Jupiter is equal to 4.5e7 MSun. Does the stated mass of Jupiter make sense? Group of answer choices Yes No, it's too big. No, it's too smallarrow_forward
- In Table 2, there is a list of 15 planets, some of which are real objects discovered by the Kepler space telescope, and some are hypothetical planets. For each one, you are provided the temperature of the star that each planet orbits in degrees Kelvin (K), the distance that each planet orbits from their star in astronomical units (AUs) and the size or radius of each planet in Earth radii (RE). Since we are concerned with finding Earth-like planets, we will assume that the composition of these planets are similar to Earth's, so we will not directly look at their masses, rather their sizes (radii) along with the other characteristics. Determine which of these 15 planets meets our criteria of a planet that could possibly support Earth-like life. Use the Habitable Planet Classification Flow Chart (below) to complete Table 2. Whenever the individual value you are looking at falls within the range of values specified on the flow chart, mark the cell to the right of the value with a Y for…arrow_forwardYou decide to go on an interstellar mission to explore some of the newly discovered extrasolar planets orbiting the star ROTOR. Your spacecraft arrives in the new system, in which there are five planets. ROTOR is identical to the Sun (in terms of its size, mass, age and composition). From your observations of these planets, you collect the following data: Density Average Distance from star (AU] Planet Mass Radius Albedo Temp. [C] Surf. Press. MOI Rotation [Earth = 1] (Earth = 1] [g/cm³] [Atm.] Period (Hours] Factor SIEVER EUGENIA 4.0 0.001 2.0 0.1 5.0 1.0 0.3 20 0.8 N/A 3.0 0.2 N/A 0.3 0.4 0.35 20 10 500 1000 5.0 4.0 0.5 0.8 0.4 0.7 -50 MARLENE CRILE 1.0 1.0 3.0 8.0 1,5 0.0 0.50 0.50 0.25 150 0.4 JANUS 100 12 0.1 10 -80 0.2 200 Figure 1: А Rotor 850 890 900 Wavelength (nm) A Sun В C 860 900 910 Wavelength (nm) 2414 a asarrow_forwardThe chart shows the length of time for each planet, in Earth days, to make one complete revolution around the Sun. Orbital Period of Planets iY the Solar System Orbital Period (Earth days) 88 225 365 687 4333 10 759 30 685 60 189 Planet Mercury Venus Earth Mars Jupiter Satum Uranus Neptune Source: NASA Use the data table above to compare the length of a year on Mars and Neptune. (HS-ESS1-4) a. One year on Neptune is almost 100 times longer than a year on Mars. b. One year on these two planets is nearly equal. c. One year on Mars is almost 100 times longer than a year on Neptune. d. One year these two planets is roughly equal to a year on Earth. Use the data table above to determine which of the following statements is TRUE. (HS-ESS1-4) a. There is no relationship between a planet's distance from the Sun and its length of year. b. The closer a planet is to the Sun, the longer the planet's year. c. One year on all planets is about 365 days long. d. The farther away a planet is from the…arrow_forward
- Kepler’s third law says that the orbital period (in years) is proportional to the square root of the cube of the mean distance (in AU) from the Sun (Pa1.5) . For mean distances from 0.1 to 32 AU, calculate and plot a curve showing the expected Keplerian period. For each planet in our solar system, look up the mean distance from the Sun in AU and the orbital period in years and overplot these data on the theoretical Keplerian curve.arrow_forwardfriend are traveling the world and are currently in a city located precisely on the Earth's equator. You are staying in separate rooms at a fancy skyscraper hotel that is 50 floors tall. Your friend's room is several floors above yours. Your rooms are on the same side of the building and both of you have the same clear view of the horizon, which appears featureless and smooth because of a very flat desert. Through the window of your room, you watch the sunset over the smooth horizon from a height of 28 m above the ground, and you see the of the Sun disappear at time ti on your watch. In his room, your friend watches the sunset from a height of 104 m above the ground, and sees the Sun disappear at a later time t2, as measured in his watch, which is perfectly synchronized with yours. Assuming that the Earth has a radius of 6378 km and that it completes a full revolution around its axis in 23 hours, 56 minutes, and 4 seconds, determine the time interval At = t2 – tị between the two sunset…arrow_forwardAn asteroid is observed to be on a superior orbit with a synodic period of 466.6 days. What are the sidereal orbital period and semi-major axis of this asteroid? Choose the option below that most closely matches your answers. Select one: O a. Sidereal period = 1683 days and %3D semi-major = 2.7 AU O b. Sidereal period = 1683 days and semi-major axis = 4.8 AU O c. Sidereal period = 865 days and semi- major axis = 1.8 AU O d. Sidereal period = 426 day and semi- %3D major axis = 2.7 AU O e. Sidereal period = 1727 days and е. semi-major axis = 0.8 AUarrow_forward
arrow_back_ios
SEE MORE QUESTIONS
arrow_forward_ios
Recommended textbooks for you
AstronomyPhysicsISBN:9781938168284Author:Andrew Fraknoi; David Morrison; Sidney C. WolffPublisher:OpenStax
Physics for Scientists and Engineers: Foundations...PhysicsISBN:9781133939146Author:Katz, Debora M.Publisher:Cengage Learning
Foundations of Astronomy (MindTap Course List)PhysicsISBN:9781337399920Author:Michael A. Seeds, Dana BackmanPublisher:Cengage Learning
Stars and Galaxies (MindTap Course List)PhysicsISBN:9781337399944Author:Michael A. SeedsPublisher:Cengage Learning
Principles of Physics: A Calculus-Based TextPhysicsISBN:9781133104261Author:Raymond A. Serway, John W. JewettPublisher:Cengage Learning
Astronomy
Physics
ISBN:9781938168284
Author:Andrew Fraknoi; David Morrison; Sidney C. Wolff
Publisher:OpenStax
Physics for Scientists and Engineers: Foundations...
Physics
ISBN:9781133939146
Author:Katz, Debora M.
Publisher:Cengage Learning
Foundations of Astronomy (MindTap Course List)
Physics
ISBN:9781337399920
Author:Michael A. Seeds, Dana Backman
Publisher:Cengage Learning
Stars and Galaxies (MindTap Course List)
Physics
ISBN:9781337399944
Author:Michael A. Seeds
Publisher:Cengage Learning
Principles of Physics: A Calculus-Based Text
Physics
ISBN:9781133104261
Author:Raymond A. Serway, John W. Jewett
Publisher:Cengage Learning
Kepler's Three Laws Explained; Author: PhysicsHigh;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyR6EO_RMKE;License: Standard YouTube License, CC-BY