Foundations of Astronomy, Enhanced
13th Edition
ISBN: 9781305980686
Author: Michael A. Seeds; Dana Backman
Publisher: Cengage Learning US
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Chapter 26, Problem 2LTL
The star cluster shown in this image contains a few red giants as well as main-sequence stars ranging from spectral type B to M. Discuss the likelihood that exoplanets orbiting any of these stars might be home to life. (Hint: Estimate the age of the cluster.)
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What is an isochromat?
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.
Suppose that stars were born at random times over the last 10e10 years. The rate ofstar formation is simply the number of stars divided by 10e10 years. The fraction ofstars with detected extrasolar planets is at least 9 %. The rate of star formation can bemultiplied by this fraction to find the rate planet formation. How often (in years) doesa planetary system form in our galaxy? Assume the Milky Way contains 7 × 10e11 stars.
I've done this problem 3 different times from scratch and looked at similar problems here. Each time my answer is 1.587 (1.59 rounded to 2 significant figures), but when I submit, it says the answer is wrong. What do you think?
Chapter 26 Solutions
Foundations of Astronomy, Enhanced
Ch. 26 - Explain how astrobiology is a science and not a...Ch. 26 - Prob. 2RQCh. 26 - Prob. 3RQCh. 26 - How does the DNA molecule produce a copy of...Ch. 26 - What would happen to a life-form if the genetic...Ch. 26 - What would happen to a life-form if the genetic...Ch. 26 - What would happen to a life-form if the...Ch. 26 - Describe an example of natural selection acting on...Ch. 26 - Prob. 9RQCh. 26 - What evidence do scientists have that life on...
Ch. 26 - Prob. 11RQCh. 26 - Why is liquid water generally considered necessary...Ch. 26 - Prob. 13RQCh. 26 - What is the difference between chemical evolution...Ch. 26 - Prob. 15RQCh. 26 - Why was Earths early atmosphere able to support...Ch. 26 - Molecules of which gas were needed in Earths...Ch. 26 - Does intelligence make a creature more likely to...Ch. 26 - Prob. 19RQCh. 26 - Prob. 20RQCh. 26 - What is the evidence that the first organisms on...Ch. 26 - Name three locations in our Solar System to search...Ch. 26 - Why are upper-main-sequence (high-luminosity) host...Ch. 26 - Prob. 24RQCh. 26 - How does the stability of technological...Ch. 26 - Prob. 26RQCh. 26 - Prob. 27RQCh. 26 - Why are scientists confident Earth has never been...Ch. 26 - Why does the Drake equation implicitly assume the...Ch. 26 - Prob. 1DQCh. 26 - Prob. 2DQCh. 26 - Prob. 3DQCh. 26 - Prob. 4DQCh. 26 - Prob. 5DQCh. 26 - A single human cell encloses about 1.5 m of DNA....Ch. 26 - If you represent Earths history by a line that is...Ch. 26 - Consider Figure 25-8. What is the ratio of the...Ch. 26 - Suppose a human generation is defined as the...Ch. 26 - If a star must remain on the main sequence for at...Ch. 26 - Prob. 6PCh. 26 - If you detected radio signals with an average...Ch. 26 - Prob. 8PCh. 26 - The first radio broadcast was made on January 13,...Ch. 26 - Prob. 10PCh. 26 - Look at Figure 25-11. Since the time we sent the...Ch. 26 - The star cluster shown in this image contains a...Ch. 26 - If you could search for life in the galaxy shown...
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- If a star must remain on the main sequence for at least 4 billion years for life to evolve to intelligence, what is the most massive a star that can form and still possibly harbor intelligent life on one of its exoplanets? (Hints: Use the formula for stellar life expectancies, Eq. 121, and data in Appendix Table A-7.)arrow_forwardIf you could search for life in the galaxy shown in this image, would you look among stars in the disk, in the central bulge, in the halo, or in all of those places? Discuss the factors that influence your decision.arrow_forwardExplain pre main sequence evolution, early post main sequence evolution and advanced evolutionary stages.arrow_forward
- H5. A star with mass 1.05 M has a luminosity of 4.49 × 1026 W and effective temperature of 5700 K. It dims to 4.42 × 1026 W every 1.39 Earth days due to a transiting exoplanet. The duration of the transit reveals that the exoplanet orbits at a distance of 0.0617 AU. Based on this information, calculate the radius of the planet (expressed in Jupiter radii) and the minimum inclination of its orbit to our line of sight. Follow up observations of the star in part reveal that a spectral feature with a rest wavelength of 656 nm is redshifted by 1.41×10−3 nm with the same period as the observed transit. Assuming a circular orbit what can be inferred about the planet’s mass (expressed in Jupiter masses)?arrow_forwardWhy have we learned a lot about star formation since the invention of detectors sensitive to infrared radiation?arrow_forwardWhy are upper-main-sequence (high-luminosity) host stars unlikely sites for intelligent civilizations?arrow_forward
- What is the wavelength shift (delta) (h) of a exoplanetery system at a wavelength of X angstroms if an exoplan et creates a doppler shift in its star of 2.4 km per second? Use the doppler equation (delta)/(h) = v/carrow_forwardwhy do scientists generally think that liquid water is necessary for the origin of life? (astronomy)arrow_forwardA newly discovered orange dwarf star has a surface temperature of approximately 5185 K. How far would its Goldilocks Zone be from the star if an astrologist wanted to look for potentially habitable planets? And how wide would the zone be?arrow_forward
- Suppose no stars more massive than about 2 MSunhad ever formed. Would life as we know it have been able to develop? Why or why not?arrow_forwardWhat properties of the gas and dust disks observed around many protostars indicate they could evolve into planetary systems?arrow_forwardKepler-444 is one of many stars with terrestrial planets that is over 10 billion a) What do you think the spectral type of Kepler-444 might be? b) How do stars of this spectral type end their lives? c) If evolution followed a similar course on a habitable pranet around a star similar to Kepler-444, it would be 5 billion years more advanced than we are. Let’s try to project our future and see what happens. In particular, suppose our civilization gets motivated enough to colonize another planet. Kepler indicates that most stars have potentially habitable (and colonizable) planets, so roughly how far away is the typical “nearest" planet? d) The New Horizons probe on its way to Pluto took 9 years to travel 30 AU. If we could send colony ships with the same average speed, roughly how long would it take to reach the typical nearest planet? уears old.arrow_forward
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