Horizons: Exploring the Universe (MindTap Course List)
14th Edition
ISBN: 9781305960961
Author: Michael A. Seeds, Dana Backman
Publisher: Cengage Learning
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Textbook Question
Chapter 20, Problem 1DQ
Do you expect that hypothetical alien recipients of the Arecibo message will be able to decode it? Why or why not?
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When Mars is 90 million km (9 x 10^10 m) from Earth, a) How long would it take for a radio wave from a video camera mounted on the back of a Mars Rover to tell ground control on earth that the Rover is about to go over a cliff? b) How long would it take for a radio signal from Earth to reach the Rover saying "STOP". c) Why do our Mars Rovers have to be "intelligent" enough to figure out how to deal with obstacles themselves?
If you detected radio signals with an average wavelength of 68 cm and suspected that they came from a civilization on a distant Earth-like exoplanet, roughly how much of a change in wavelength (in cm) should you expect to detect as a result of the orbital motion of the distant exoplanet? (Hint: Use the Doppler shift formula.) (Note: Earth's orbital velocity is 30 km/s.)
In a globular cluster, astronomers (someday) discover a star with the same mass as our Sun, but consisting entirely of hydrogen and helium. Is this star a good place to point our SETI antennas and search for radio signals from an advanced civilization?
Group of answer choices
No, because such a star (and any planets around it) would not have the heavier elements (carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, etc.) that we believe are necessary to start life as we know it.
Yes, because globular clusters are among the closest star clusters to us, so that they would be easy to search for radio signals.
Yes, because we have already found radio signals from another civilization living near a star in a globular cluster.
No, because such a star would most likely not have a stable (main-sequence) stage that is long enough for a technological civilization to develop.
Yes, because such a star is probably old and a technological civilization will have had a long time to evolve and develop there.
Chapter 20 Solutions
Horizons: Exploring the Universe (MindTap Course List)
Ch. 20 - If life is based on information, what is that...Ch. 20 - How does the DNA molecule produce a copy of...Ch. 20 - What would happen to a life-form if the genetic...Ch. 20 - What would happen to a life-form if the...Ch. 20 - Give an example of natural selection acting on new...Ch. 20 - Prob. 6RQCh. 20 - Why do scientists generality think that liquid...Ch. 20 - Prob. 8RQCh. 20 - What is the significance of the Miller-Urey...Ch. 20 - Prob. 10RQ
Ch. 20 - Prob. 11RQCh. 20 - Why is it reasonable to suspect that travel...Ch. 20 - How does the stability of technological...Ch. 20 - Prob. 14RQCh. 20 - Prob. 15RQCh. 20 - Prob. 16RQCh. 20 - How Do We know? Why are scientists confident that...Ch. 20 - Do you expect that hypothetical alien recipients...Ch. 20 - Prob. 2DQCh. 20 - Prob. 3DQCh. 20 - A single human cell encloses about 1.5 m of DNA,...Ch. 20 - If you represent Earth’s history by a line 1 m...Ch. 20 - Prob. 3PCh. 20 - If a star must remain on the main sequence for at...Ch. 20 - Prob. 5PCh. 20 - Prob. 6PCh. 20 - Prob. 7PCh. 20 - Calculate the numb of communicative civilizations...Ch. 20 - The star cluster shown in the image in Figure UN...Ch. 20 - Prob. 2LTL
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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
- What are the advantages to using radio waves for communication between civilizations that live around different stars? List as many as you can.arrow_forwardIf you detected radio signals with an average wavelength of 37 cm and suspected that they came from a civilization on a distant Earth-like exoplanet, roughly how much of a change in wavelength (in cm) should you expect to detect as a result of the orbital motion of the distant exoplanet? (Hint: Use the Doppler shift formula.) (Note: Earth's orbital velocity is 30 km/s.) cmarrow_forwardThe evidence is overwhelming that the Grand Canyon was dug over a span of millions of years by the erosive power of the Colorado River and that river's tributary streams. Does this evidence support a catastrophic theory or an evolutionary theory?arrow_forward
- Consider Figure 25-8. What is the ratio of the length of time since the origin of fish to the time since the origin of mammals? What does this value indicate?arrow_forwardWhat are some reasons that more advanced civilizations might want to send out messages to other star systems?arrow_forwardHow Do We know? The evidence is overwhelming in support of the idea that the Grand Canyon was dug over a span of millions of years by the erosive power of the Colorado River and its tributary streams. Is that a catastrophic theory or an evolutionary theory?arrow_forward
- Why are upper-main-sequence (high-luminosity) host stars unlikely sites for intelligent civilizations?arrow_forwardLook at Figure 25-11. Since the time we sent the message from Arecibo, what has happened that makes one of the symbols inaccurate?arrow_forwardMost of the stars we can see with the unaided eye in our night sky are hundreds or even thousands of lightyears away from Earth. (The very closest ones are only a few dozen lightyears away, but most are much further.) The vast majority of stars in our galaxy are many tens of thousands of lightyears away. IF intelligent life existed on planets orbiting some of these stars – and that’s a huge IF! – comment on the likelihood and practicality of (a) visiting, (b) communicating with, or (c) verifying the existence of those life forms. Describe how you might go about approaching EACH of these three tasks, or if you think they are even possible. (One or two sentences for each part would be appropriate.)arrow_forward
- The Drake equation attempts to calculate the number of communicative civilizations in the galaxy. What does the factor F S represent and why is it considered to be the most uncertain of all the factors in this equation?arrow_forwardWhy do we think we would be able to decode a message deliberately sent to us by an alien civilization? Group of answer choices The message will probably be in video format, allowing us to watch it even without knowing the alien language. We can assume that aliens will also have 10 fingers and 10 toes and therefore that they can send a message that relies on this fact. They undoubtedly have already received our television broadcasts and would therefore be likely to send the message in English. The aliens presumably know the same laws of mathematics and physics as we do and therefore could develop a simple code based on these laws.arrow_forwardI don’t understand how that it was estimated as length of a mouse is 4 to 15 cm in length. Is that a guess and the answer just varies?also where did 10^-1 come fromarrow_forward
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