Astronomical Olympiads

Problems with solutions

V. G. Surdin
translated by M.V.Safonova
September 4, 2000


Table of Contents
1) Table of Contents............................................................................................................................................... 2
2) The Starry Sky................................................................................................................................................... 3
3) The Earth: - Coordinates, Shape, Motion.............................................................................................................. 6
4) The Moon. Solar and lunar eclipse....................................................................................................................... 8
5) The Apparent Motion of the Celestial Bodies..................................................................................................... 11
6) Time and Calendar........................................................................................................................................... 14
7) Coordinates of the Celestial Bodies.................................................................................................................... 16
8) Brightness, Luminosity, Distances..................................................................................................................... 17
9) Astronomical Instruments and Observations....................................................................................................... 21
10) Motion of Celestial Bodies.............................................................................................................................. 25
11) Space Travel and Nature of the Planets............................................................................................................ 28
12) Astrophysics.................................................................................................................................................. 30
13) Astronomical Quiz......................................................................................................................................... 33
14) PROBLEMS OF CAPTAIN FIBBER (with a multiple choice)......................................................................... 33
15) Old Hottabych Problems................................................................................................................................. 35


The Starry Sky
16) Which constellation can be found twice on a star map? Can it be seen in March in the evening?
17) Total solar eclipse is happening in the second fortnight of J une around the local noon. Draw the map of the
position of the planets and the brightest stars that can be seen during the eclipse, taking into account that
Venus is in its maximum western elongation, Mercury is in lowest conjunction, Mars is in opposition.
18) Why is it that the closer you are to the Milky Way, the more you see stars and the less distant galaxies?
19) Which star, Betelgeuse or Deneb, can be seen longer in the Moscow sky?
20) Which means of orientation by the stars you know (apart from orientation by the Polaris)?
21) What do you know about the constellations of Scorpius (The Scorpion) and Ophiuchus (The Serpent
Holder)?
22) What do you know about the constellations of Andromeda, Pegasus and Cassiopeia? (YOU Call- vary
such questions, choosing more or less known constellations, depending on the location and level of the
children's knowledge)
23) Show approximate location of constellations of Scutum (The Shield), Vulpecula (The Fox), Sagitta (The
Arrow), Equuleus (The Little Horse), Lepus (The Hare), Lynx (The Lynx), Corvus (The Crow).
24) Describe the star sky during the total solar eclipse of J une 30th, 1954 and mark ' the position of the Sun
25) Can you see in the March of this year in the early evening the Ursa Major (The Great Bear), Leo (The
Lion), Auriga (The Charioteer) and Orion (The Hunter) constellations? Can you see the Moon and the
planets?
26) Which constellations are named after the physical devices?
27) Name 7 brightest objects on the sky.
28) Which non-zodiacal constellation the Sun passes through on its annual path around the sky and when'?
29) What is zodiacal light? What time of the day and which location on the Earth are the best for observing it'?
30) Describe the Mars's night sky.
31) Describe the night sky of lo, which is orbiting the J upiter at a distance of 6 J upiter's radii.
32) How many lunar disks are necessary to cover all sky?
33) When on the sky can you see Sun? Moon? Stars?
34) Here is the unfinished verse by A. S. Pushkin. [choose one couplet]
the azure height above me
One little star sends tender light--
To my dark-red horizon, and
a close moon to the right.
Just a little star has risen
To the azure sky so soon-
To my right, dark-red horizon
7o my left, a close moon.
Determine:
a) which part of tile world tile poet was facing,

b) what time of the day it was,
c) in which phase was the Moon,
d) why the Moon was called "Close"
e) what "little star" could shine at tile poet.'
35) What kinds of relations have tile mythological characters, after whom the planets of the Solar System arc
named?
36) A planet is at the angular distance of 100 from the Sun. Which planet is it- inner or outer?
37) Why Leonids and Quadrantids meteor showers have these names?
38) Can you observe Mars from the Eridanus (The River) constellation?
39) The Moon is in Sagittarius (The Archer). In which constellation the observer from the Moon will see the
Earth?
40) .Name all the objects of the Solar System in the order of the decreasing size (do not count the comets
tails).
41) Explain why there are observed more meteors from midnight to dawn than from evening to midnight.
42) Estimate how often the Moon occults the stars visible to the naked eye.
43) Venus is in its western elongation. Which time of the day is the best for its observations?
44) A hunter on the autumn night goes to the forest in the direction of the Polaris. Immediately after the
sunrise he returns back. How should a hunter orient himself . by the position of the Sun?
45) Why many star observers insist that Earth's artificial satellites (EAS) move in zigzags across the sky?
46) F. Pollack's "Course of general astronomy" states that "All stars seen with the naked eye, and many of
those seen through a telescope, are long ago counted, catalogued and placed on the astronomical charts."
Why then the number of stars seen with the naked eye is always given only approximate?
47) What can be the maximum angle between the Polaris and the pole of the sky (north celestial pole) as a
result of the precession of the Earth's axis? When this angle was reached last? Did then the Polaris set
behind the horizon on the latitude of Moscow'?
48) If you have decided to observe the Moon a week before the eclipse, where on the sky would you look for
It immediately after the sunset?
49) Using-, the skeleton (outline) maps of the constellations oil tile figures 1.1 - 1.3 Perform the following
exercises:
a) write the latin and the hindi names of the constellation, the name of the brightest star and its stellar
magnitude;
b) '' connect the stars of the constellation to obtain its contour;
c) at what time of the year this constellation is the best to observe at your latitude?;
d) what interesting objects in this constellation you know? Mark their position on the map.

Figure 1 Constellation Maps


The Earth: - Coordinates, Shape, Motion.
1) Who and where went the closest to the centre of the Earth?
2) On March 21st on a true noon the shadow of the vertical pole is equal to its height. On what latitude it is
happening?
3) Find the width in km of the meteor shower, which was observed from J uly 16th to August 24th. Assume
that the Earth is moving perpendicularly to the stream.
4) In winter the Earth is several million km closer to the Sun than in summer. Why then the winter is colder
than the summer?
5) What is the period of the rotation of the Earth around its axis?
6) Two travellers started the round-the-world tour from the same poi:: on the equator and with the same
velocity: one went along the equator, another-along the meridian. Will they reach the starting point
simultaneously?
7) Orbits of two comets lie it the ecliptic. Comets have perihelion radii of 0.5 AU and 1.5 AU Lengths of their
tails in the perihelion exceed 100 million km. Can the Earth pass through the ;ails of these comets?
8) Maximum angular radius of the Sun (
max
=16'17.53" is observed on J anuary 4th, minimum radius
max
=
15'45.34" is observed on the 5th of J uly. Where on the orbit is the Earth on these dates? What are the
distances from these points to the Sun?
9) If the period of the Earth's rotation were 12 hours, how many lunar tides we would have observed during
this period?
10) For the french traveller J ean Atone, who started alone in summer 1986 the journey from Canada to the
North Pole, one Swiss firm has manufactured a special watch, whose hand was moving round the face not
in 12 hours, but in 24. Why had he needed such a watch? (Unfortunately, in the article ''bout that event the
newspaper "Izvestiya" has not mentioned that the fact exactly the same watch was manufactured in
Moscow for russian researchers in Antarctica).
11) An observer standing on the equator sees an EAS. always right above himself. At what distance from the
surface is the orbit of this satellite and what is its linear velocity?
12) I low many heliostationary satellites arc necessary to maintain round-the-clock communication between
the North and the South poles?
13) What should be the height of the TV antenna on the South Pole to receive the signal from the
heliostationary satellite?
14) From which point on the Earth you walk 100 km to the south, 100 km to the cast and then 100 km to the
north and you return to the original point?
15) In the J ules Verne novel "Air ship" it is mentioned that near midnight above the ship "Albatross" was seen
the constellation Southern Cross, "four stars of which were shining brightly in zenith", and approximately
an hour later the ship flew over the Southern Pole. Knowing that the four brightest stars of the Southern
Cross have declinations -62.6, -59.2, -58.2 and -56.6, correspondingly, find the astronomical
inaccuracy in the narration and find the approximate geographical latitude of the location of the
"Albatross" at midnight, assuming that the ship was flying by the shortest route to the Pole.
16) If the Earth stopped its rotation, would we have the change of day and night?
17) In the J ules Verne's novel "The Mystery Island" when the survivors found the the chest and having
examined the sea surface exclaimed: "There are no traces of the shipwreck around for a 100 miles!". What
was the magnification of the spyglass?

18) Why is the period of the change of the seasons (i.e.. tropical year) approximately 20 min shorter than the
period of the Earth's revolution around the Sun (i.e.. sidereal year)?
19) I-low can one prove that the Earth is rotating around its axis and around the Sun?
20) Tunguska's meteor to explosion was observed at the horizon in the town Quirks (river Lent) 3510 km from
the place of explosion. Determine at what height above the surface was the explosion.
21) From the North Pole to the South Pole was made the vertical shaft. One projectile is dropped into the shaft
without the initial velocity, another one is launched on the low polar orbit (see Fig. 2.1). Which one of
them will reach the South Pole first?
22) Why the shape of the Earth and other planets is spheroids, but of the asteroids and comets nuclei-
irregular?
23) In 24 hours the Earth is receiving around 10 thousands
tons of space substance 'meteorites', cosmic dust, etc).
Estimate how this could have changed the duration of
the day since the beginning of the evolution of our
planet.
Figure 2 What is the fastest way to reach
antipodes
24) Spectral studies show that the radial velocity of
Regulus (a Leo) relative to the Earth changes from V
1
=
-27 km/sec to V
2
=33 km/sec with the period of 1 year
(negative velocity means that the object approaches us).
Knowing that this star is on the ecliptic and that the
distance from the Earth to the Sun is 1.5 x 10
11
m,
calculate the gravitational constant. Consider our orbit
to be circular and neglect the Earth's mass as compared
to the Sun's mass (M

=2.10
30
kg).
25) The end was close: the beast got tired and stood still.
100 m to the south from the bear the hunter appeared,
walked 150 m to the east and, turning, fired a shot
exactly to the north. Stricken animal fell dead. The
question is: what colour was the bear?

The Moon. Solar and lunar eclipse.
1) Are there places on the Moon where the Earth rises and sets?
2) What maximum altitude can the Moon reach on Moscow's latitude (55
0
45'); on which date, at what hour
and in which constellation it happens?
3) Why at the middle latitudes the crescent of the "young" Moon in the spring is always high above the
horizon and its horns are turned up, but in the autumn this happens only with the "old" Moon?
4) Why solar eclipses are happening more often in summers?
5) Why the longest solar eclipses are observed only in the tropical countries?
6) Can you observe a solar eclipse on the North Pole?
7) Can a plane catch up with a lunar shadow moving across the Earth?
8) Can one observe a solar eclipse from the board of the space station? If not, then why? And if yes, then what
is its duration?
9) Goring the solar eclipse a traveller noticed that the eclipse began right from the bottom. Where and when
could it have been?
10) An observer noticed that the solar eclipse started from the upper edge of the solar disk. Where and when
could it have been?
11) If in one year the solar eclipse was on a 2nd of J anuary, could during this year be another solar eclipse?
12) A lunar eclipse is happening when the Sun's declination is +20
0
50' and Moon's declination is -21" 16'.
How the Moon is passing through the Earth's shadow?
13) Can one during the total lunar eclipse observe from the same point on Earth both the Moon and the Sun?
14) When the apparent diameter of the Moon is larger: when it is observed near the horizon or in zenith?
15) Where one can observe annular solar eclipse more often: in zenith or on the horizon?
16) On which side of the Moon the day is brighter-on the nearside or on the farside? And the night?
17) On the geographic pole of the Earth the Sun is half a year above the horizon and half a year below the
horizon. What about the Moon?
18) Specialists hold that future inhabitants of lunar bases will prefer 25-hour diurnal cycle, and not 24-hour.
Why?
19) It is assumed that exactly half of the lunar globe is illuminated by the Sun, and that the other half is in the
shadow. Is it true?
20) In which terrestrial regions one can observe the lunar eclipse today?
21) Usually total solar eclipses arc observed in the band of 200 km width and 10,000 km length. On average
on the Earth is observed one total solar eclipse a year. Estimate after how many years a coca solar eclipse
will repeat in the same location, for example, in your town.
22) What are the "white nights" and why they happen in St.Petersburg and not in Odes? (Geographic latitude
of St. Petersburg is 60, of Odes is 46.5
0
.)
23) Where on the Moon it is better to build a solar observatory?
24) At what time of the year the Moon rises on a full Moon night higher above the horizon-in winter or in
summer?

25) Do solar eclipses happen on Uranus?
26) The total solar eclipse is happening in the beginning of J anuary in Moscow. How the Moon looked half
and hour after the first contact with the shadow? How it looked for the observer in Antarctica?
27) How long can the lunar occultation of a star continue?
28) Arthur Clark in his novel "2001: a Space Odyssey" is describing the beginning of a sunrise on the-Moon:
"...a thin bow of unbearable incandescence had thrust itself .::love the eastern horizon. Though it would
take more than a hour for the Sun to clear the edge of the slowly turning Moon, the stars were already
banished." Determine on which lunar latitude it is happening.
29) If the Moon has risen at 23"45"' on Tuesday, when will be the next moonrise?
30) How many times a year the Moon turns around its axis?
31) How long the Moon stays above the horizon on the equator (without taking refraction in the account)?
32) In the novel of F. Panferov "In the Name of the Young" (1960) there are such lines: "Then the rockets to
the Moon were launched and its far, always in the darkness, side was photographed and that evoked a lot of
enthusiasm in all countries." Find the inaccuracies.
33) Can one observe the solar eclipse on November 15th from the North Pole?
34) What the period of the rotation of the Moon around its axis is equal to: syndic month or sidereal month?
35) Due to the tidal interaction with the Earth, the Moon is receding from the Earth by 3cm every year along
the spiral orbit. After how many years we won't be able to observe the solar eclipses?
36) In the system Earth-Moon a paradoxical phenomenon is happening: as a result of the tidal friction the
angular velocity of the Earth as well as the Moon is decreasin.. Does it contradict the law of the
conservation of the angular momentum?
37) Can one observe from Saturn the eclipse of the Sun by Titan, which is revolving at the distance of
1222000 km from the centre of Saturn and has a diameter of 5150 km?
38) How often the Earth rises on the Moon in the vicinity of the crater Tight?
39) Do solar eclipses happen on Mars and J upiter?
40) Due to the tidal effects the Moon is slowly receding from the Earth in the present epoch. In the past the
radius of its orbit was smaller. Estimate the duration of the total solar eclipses at a time when its radius was
half the present ore.
41) Astronomers are observing the total solar eclipse from the board of the plane flying to the east along the
eclipse path with the speed of 900 km/h. The eclipse :s happening around noon on the latitude of 60
0
and
its full phase on the surface lasted for 5 mins. For how long it was observed on the board of the plane?
42) At what time of the lay one can observe a waxing moon and at what time a waning moon?
43) Is it possible to launch a stationary lunar satellite?
44) Can one in the course of 24 hours observe both an old and a young moon?
45) How many times a year the Moon is in zenith on the equator?
46) lohann Kepler in his work "Dream, or Posthumous composition about lunar astronomy" wrote "The Moon
in Iceland is often not seen during the time when other countries observe a full Moon". What time of the
year this statement is referred to? Iceland is situated on the latitudes from 63 to 66.
47) How one can prove that "ashen" lunar light is caused by the sunlight reflected from the Earth?

48) Describe the phenomena that could be observed on the Moon during the total solar eclipse on the Earth.
49) For radio communication with the Earth from the Moon it was decided to mount a directed antenna. Does
this antenna need a self-guided device or is it enough to orient it only once at the time of installation?
50) An observer is on the boarder between the nearside and farside of the Moon. How the positions of stars
and the Earth relative to the horizon are changing with time for this observer? Describe briefly.
51) If the lunar albedo in an optical range were exactly 0% (and not 7%), how could we know about the
presence of the Moon near the Earth ?
52) On which side of the Moon-nearside or farside-the night is longer?
53) In the story by A.P.Chekhov "The Chemist's Wife" there are such lines: "Suddenly an immense, broad-
faced moon crawled out from behind some bushes in the distance. The moon was bright red: indeed,
whenever the moon crawls out from behind any shrubbery, for some reason it always looks terrible
embarrassed." The question is: why the Moon was red and broad-faced? And is it important that the bushes
were in the distance?
54) Estimate from the point of view of an astronomer a couplet from the song by You Kim
And on the Moon, on the Moon, from a blue lunar dune,
Strange lunar folks observe something exciting:
Far at the end of the Moon, like a fantastic balloon,
The Earth is beautifully setting and rising.
55) On which planet one can observe the longest total solar eclipse?

The Apparent Motion of the Celestial Bodies
1) What is the apparent path of the Sun on the Uranus sky? 4.2
2) What apparent paths would have due to the parallax the following stars: Leo, Orion, Draco and
Polaris?
3) Explain the meaning of the folk saying: "The Crescent moves in winter like the Sun in summer".
4) On December 22nd during the total lunar eclipse there was an occultation of the J upiter by the Moon. In
what constellation it happened and what was the position of the J upiter relative to the Sun and the Earth?
5) American solo-yachtsman Steven Kalahari had suffered a
ship-wreck in Atlantic. He found himself on an inflatable
raft and was judging (finding?) his course by the stars: "In
the night I determine my position by the two reference-
points simultaneously: Polaris and Southern Cross." On
approximately what latitudes and at what time of the year it
happened? Prompt: coordinates of the Southern Cross are
=-12.5
h
and =- 60 5.
6) Why in tropical countries the venetian blinds with the vertical
slats arc preferred, whereas on middle latitudes-with
horizontal? (Sec Fig.1).
7) Can a day be longer than a year?
Figure 3 Which blinds are better?
8) Describe the motion of the 5th jovian satellite (Amalthea)-
diurnal and relative to the stars-for an observer from the equator of J upiter, assuming for simplicity that the
motion of the satellite is happening in the ecliptic and also in the plane of the J upiter's orbit, which lies in
the ecliptic. Assume the period of the satellite revolution to be 12 hours and the period of rotation of
J upiter-!0 hours.
9) If the Earth's rotation axis were perpendicular to the ecliptic, what would be the duration of the day on the
40 N.L. on the day of summer solstice?
10) On the Earth the solar day is longer than stellar day, but on Venus it is vice versa. Why?
11) What is the interval between the "disappearance" of the saturnian rings (the plane of the rings turning edge
on to us)?
12) Does the Sun have annual parallax like other stars?
13) It is considered that Venus is seen either in the mornings or in the evenings. But is it possible to observe
Venus in the morning and evening of the same day?
14) In what basic configurations the Earth is seen from Mercury and Mars and what is the largest angular
distance between the Earth and the Moon that can be observed from these planets?
15) In the tear-off calendar it was written that the Iength of the day in Moscow on March 21st 1990 is 12 hours
14 minutes. Why then this day is called the day of the vernal equinox?
16) How can the inhabitants of the farside of the Moon guess that the Moon is revolving around the Earth ?
17) A camera, fixed in the direction of the southern part of the sky, takes a short exposure exactly at 12" of
civil time on the same photoplate. What trajectory will describe the center of the Sun on that photo?
18) Why the great martian oppositions always happen at the same time of the year? What is that time?
19) How to find out whether the observed celestial object is a comet or a distant nebula?

20) To what maximum height above the horizon the Sun rises on the martian pole? The tilt of planet's axis to
the ecliptic is 65.
21) Explain why sometimes one can see the lunar crescent in the spring a day earlier after the new moon than
in the autumn. How does it depend on the latitude of the observation?
22) What is the time and the height of Mars's culmination, when it is observed at opposition in Moscow ((P =
56} on J une 22nd? In which constellation it is seen at that moment?
23) What is the time and the height of J upiter's culmination, when it is observed at the opposition in Moscow
( =56") on June 22nd? In which constellation it is seen at that moment?
24) A sidereal period of a superior planet is 417 days. What is the average distance of this planet to the Sun?
What is this planet?
25) At what phase the Moon rises to the maximum height above the horizon?
26) The distance between a star and the northern celestial pole is 45. Can the star be always seen on the
latitudes of Yalta ( =44.5), St. Petersburg ( =60), Archangels (p =64.6) and Tashkent ( =64.6)?
27) On which latitudes the circumpolar stars culminate in zenith?
28) Under what conditions there is no day and night change on a planet?
29) 12 zodiacal constellations are evenly distributed along the ecliptic. In which of them the Sun spends the
least amount of times?
30) What is the duration of crossing the horizon line by the solar disk on the equator and on the pole?
31) In middle latitudes the lunar disk rises completely above the horizon in three minutes. How long it takes
for the Earth's disk to rise on the Moon`
32) On March 21st at 9"00' local solar time on the equator was observed the total solar eclipse. At what height
above: the horizon was the Sun it that moment?
33) In the novel by M. Bulgakov "Master and Margarita" in 3rd chapter a May evening on Patriarh Ponds is
described: "The: sky above Moscow was as if bleached, and absolutely distinctly was seen in the height the
full moon, not yet golden but white." What inaccuracy the writer committed here?
34) What astronomical event is depicted on the Fig. 4.2?
35) A celestial object has a synodic period of 1.25 years. What is its sidereal period? Between orbits of which
two planets it moves?
36) Apparent solar day is a period between two subsequent culminations of the Sun, for example, between two
local noons. Is the duration of the apparent solar day constant within a year?
37) How the diurnal and annual motion of the Sun look for the observer on the Earth's South Pole.
38) On the 22nd of J une you are going along the smooth road in the northern direction. Suddenly you are
blinded by the patch of the sunlight reflected from the windscreen of the coming from the opposite
direction car. The glass of the windscreen was smooth and at an angle of 30 to the vertical. At what time
of the day it happened? At what height above the horizon was the Sun? And on what approximately
latitude it happened?
39) Following cities have latitudes:
a) Greenwich (England): S l n.l.
b) St. Luis (USA): 38 n.l.
c) Calcutta (India): 23 n.l.

d) Mbdanaka (Zaire): 0
e) Rio-de-Zhaneiro (Brazil): ?3 s.{.
In which of them:
a) Sun is near the horizon on J une 2lst? b) Sun is near zenith on December 21st? c) Polaris is near the
horizon?
b) Stars with declination +67 never set? e) Polar star is never seen?
c) Stars with declination +51 pass through zenith?
Give the answers in the table form:
letters of questions - a b c d e f numbers of answers -
40) What is the hour angle of a star at the moment of its lower culmination?

Time and Calendar
1) When and where the polar day is longer-on the North or on the South Pole?
2) Is it true that on March 21st and on September 23rd everywhere on Earth duration of the day is equal to the
duration of the night?
3) What do you need to know in order to verify the city clocks by the sundial?
4) On March 20th at 18.00 Moscow standard time the Moon is occulting the Pleiades. Describe how this event
would have been observed in Moscow (2nd time zone), in Ekaterinburg (4th time zone) and in
Komsomolsk-on-Amur (9th time zone).
5) Where could an observer be for whom on the day of summer solstice the sunrise is happening at 6.00
Greenwich time?
6) At what hour Moscow time on April 11th the Algol culminates ( =3
h
05
m
)?
7) At what geographical longitude the mean local noon coincides with the time of receiving the sixth point of
10.00 Moscow time radio broadcast?
8) What would be the duration of the lunar month if the distance to the Moon were four times the present one?
Is this possible at all?
9) Vega is in its upper culmination at 20
h
0
m
0
s
. At what time after 8 days will be its next upper culmination?
10) It is known that Magellan's companions upon returning from their round-the-earth travel lost one day in
their day count. How it can be explained? How this problem is avoided nowadays? If an astronaut starts at
10 am on May 10th and makes one trip around the Earth in 1.5 hours on which date and at which hour he
would return back to the Earth?
11) X-ray telescope on the orbital station "Salut-7" was not being used to observe the objects within the
angular radius less than 60 from the Sun in order to keep the telescope in working condition (Fig. S.1).
What is the minimum time of the expedition on "Salut-7" during which the whole sky x-ray would be
explored?
12) Astronomical spring of 1983 has begun on
March 21st-at 4
h
39
m
Greenwich time. What was
the Moscow time at that moment? What is the
stellar time on March 21st at noon in Moscow?
13) At 22.00 Moscow time the stellar clocks showed
8
h
56
m
02
s
. What would the stellar clocks show at
22.00 Moscow time next day?
Figure 4 Do not look
at the Sun
14) "In the middle of the polar night a plane has
taken, us to the North Pole. Only narrow lunar
crescent was illuminating the endless ice plain".
In which year did the author of these lines visit
the North Pole?
15) Is the duration of the day on both lunar hemispheres the same, assuming that the day begins when the
upper edge of the Sun rises above the horizon in the center of the hemisphere?
16) The total solar eclipse was observed on March 21st at 9
h
local true solar time on the equator. At what time
on this day the Moon will set?
17) There are 365.24 mean solar days in a year. How will this number change if the rotation of the Earth were
happening with the same period, but in the reverse direction?

18) On the New Year's Eve the orbital station is roving in a circular stationary orbit with 1.5 hrs period. What
is the probability that the astronauts will fly over certain region of the Earth right at the moment of the
beginning of the New Year in this region? How many times in one day can this happen?
19) At what place on a horizon the point of vernal equinox rises and sets on J une 22nd and on September 22nd
at the latitude =56? What it the stellar time at the moments of its rise and setting?
20) sub A traveller bent over a well and saw a reflection of Capella on the surface of the water ( =5
h
13
m
, J
=+4557'). At what geographical latitude was the traveller and what was the stellar time at that moment?
21) If J anuary 1st is Monday, on which day of the week would the ordinary year and the leap year end?
22) How many days w ill be in February 2100?
23) When will the 21st century start?
24) The point of vernal equinox has risen one hour ago (by stellar time). What is the stellar time now?
25) A plane flying from San-Francisco to Tokyo is approaching the Date Line. On its board the exact zonal
time is I6
h
22
m
and the date is December 31st. After 5 min it crossed the Date Line. What is the tonal time
and the date immediately after crossing?
26) With what speed and in which direction shall fly the plane in the equatorial region in order to stop the
local solar time on the board?

Coordinates of the Celestial Bodies.
1) This chapter is small since most of the problems on determination of the coordinates are published in many
places and are of routine character, as a rule. We decide not to overload the book with them and selected
only few original ones. But we do not consider the skill in solving these problems to be of a second rate
rather otherwise-it is the basis of observational astronomy, the alphabet, without which one should not go
deep into this science. In each round of our Olympiad there are by all means such problems.
2) On September 22nd 1985 the Halley's comet had coordinates =6
h
13
m
and =+1945'. Determine at what
hour by Moscow time and at what height on this day did its culmination happen in Moscow ( =56, =
38)?
3) What are the names of the points of crossing of almukantarat with the horizon?
4) On location with the latitude +49 the 22 day-old Moon culminated at the height of 46. Determine the
longitude of the rising lunar node.
5) Two weak stars with coordinates
1
=18
h
,
1
=+40 and
2
=6
h
,
2
=+10 were observed simultaneously
at one almukantarat; one-in upper culmination and the other-in the low culmination. At what latitude, at
what stellar time and in what time of the year did it happen?
6) Is it possible to observe in Moscow ( =56
0
) in the course of one day both upper and low culmination's of
the following stars: Deneb ( =20
h
40
m
, =+45) Betelgeuse ( =6
h
6, =+7)
7) In which of the cities listed below the lunar disk will not disappear behind the horizon during the whole
day: Moscow ( =56), St. Petersburg ( =5956'), Vyborg ( =6043'), Yakutsk ( =6202')
8) During the night the culmination of a star was observed twice; in the upper culmination its height was h
U
=
80, in the lower it was h
L
=60. On what latitude the observation was made and in which season of the
year?
9) Calculate the height, azimuthal and zonal (hourly) angle of the star 13 UMi ( =20
h
40
m
, =+45) at the
moments of its lower and upper culminations at the point located on a northern polar circle. Does this star
ever sets at this location? What is the stellar time at the moments of its culminations?
10) Measurements of the height of the midday Sun on J une 22nd were h
1
=57 and on the December 22nd h
2

=10
0
. Determine the latitude of the location of the observation and the declination of the Sun on these
days.
11) How shall the telescope with equatorial mounting be oriented to observe a star with coordinates =
13
h
52
m
and =30, if the stellar time is t
s
=12
h
19
m
? In what time the star would cross the field of the 45'
telescope if the tracking were switched off.
12) What is the declination of the stars which can be seen at the horizon at all places on Earth?

Brightness, Luminosity, Distances.
1) The distance to Sirius (2.7 Kpc) is decreasing every
second by 8 km. In how many years will the
brightness of Sinus double?
2) What is the ratio of the radii of the stars in the
eclipsing binary of Algol type (Fig. 7.1), if the
eclipse is central, the companion is dark and the
ratio of brightness in maximum to the brightness
in minimum is n?
3) What is the change in the radius of a Cepheid if the amplitude of variation luminosity is 1.5
m
and the
specific luminosity remains constant?
4) Determine the diameter of the star Cet in km; its angular apparent diameter is 0.0065" and parallax is
0.024".
5) How much time passed from the conjunction to the opposition if the brightness of a planet changed by 1
m
?
6) At maximum of the eclipse an eclipsing binary has brightness of 6
m
and in minimum of 8
m
. Assuming the
eclipse to be central and the companion to be dark, find the ratio of the volumes of the components of the
binary.
7) Parallax of the Sun is 8.80; of a star is 0.44. How much farther is the star from the Earth than the Sun is?
8) What is the angular diameter and stellar magnitude of the sun for an observer on Pluto and what is the
difference between the illumination. of this planet by the Sun. and the illumination of the Earth by the full
moon? Reference data: for an observer on Earth the angular diameter of the Sun is 32"; the distance from
Pluto to the Sun is 40 AU, the apparent stellar magnitude of the Sun is m

=-26.7 and of the Moon is m

0
=
-12.6.
9) A globular cluster (Fig. 7.2) has a million main
sequence stars, each of them having an absolute
stellar magnitude of M
ms
=6, and also ten thousand
red giants with the magnitudes M
rg
=1. Can one see
this cluster with the naked eye from the distance of
10 Kpc?
10) When Mars is in opposition one can see in the
telescope on its surface details of the size of no less
than 100 km. Details of what size could be seen
when Mars is in conjunction?
11) The supernova (S And) was observed in 1885 in
Andromeda galaxy. Taking into account that the
distance to the galaxy is 690 Kpc, estimate when it
actually happened.
5) Figure 5 Globular Cluster
12) In 1987 the supernova was registered in the Large Magellanic Cloud. How many years ago happened the
explosion if the distance to LMC is 55 Kpc?
13) Which of the two stars is brighter on our sky: a star with the apparent stellar magnitude m =2 or a star
with the absolute magnitude M =-5 and located at the distance of 100 Kpc from the Earth?
14) Halley's cornet in perihelion passes the Sun at the distance of 0.6 AU How much more is the illumination
of the comet by the Sun in perihelion than in aphelion?
15) How could astronomers in the pre-spaceflight epoch determine the reflective properties (albedo) of the
Earth?

16) Estimate the apparent stellar magnitude of the nucleus of a comet at a distance 40 AU from the Sun, if
radius of the nucleus is 5 km and albedo is 0.4.
17) At the moment of first observation in October 1982 the Halley's comet had a magnitude of 24
m
and was at
a distance of 11 AU from the Earth end the Sun. Estimate the radius of the nucleus of the comet, assuming
that it reflects 40% of incoming light.
18) What illuminates the Earth better: Sirius (-1.5
m
) or stars with magnitude from 5
m
to 6
m
, the number of
which on the night sky hemisphere is about 1600?
19) The number of stars with the magnitudes from 3
m
to 4
m
is 400 and with the magnitudes from 4
m
to 5
m
is
about 1100. Which ones illuminate the Earth more?
20) How much brighter is the full moon night compared with the no moon night?
21) How the Earth and the Moon look like for an observer on Mars?
22) Venus in its maximum elongation has brightness of -4.1
m
. What maximum brightness will have the Earth
for an observer on an artificial satellite around Venus? Take albedo of Venus as 0.8 and of Earth as 0.4.
23) On the photographs of the Earth with the Moon taken from the interplanetary satellites the Earth looks
very bright, whereas the Moon looks dark. Why?
24) Why the brightness of a star increases as it rises above the horizon?
25) Why the connection between the luminosity and the period of brightness variation of a Cepheid was
discovered from the observations of the stars in the large Magellanic Cloud and not in our Galaxy?
26) Explain why the accuracy of the measuring the distances to the faraway galaxies depends on the accuracy
with which we know the distance to the Sun?
27) A supernova in the maximum of its brightness reaches
the stellar magnitude M =-21. If the monitoring of the
sky is performed with the limiting magnitude of m =14,
how often we would register the supernova? Assume that
in the typical galaxy the supernova occurs on average
once it 100 years and that the number density of the
galaxies is 1 in 10 Mpc
3
.
28) Imagine that behind your back is the full Moon and in
front of you is the polished metal bail in which it reflects
(Fig. 7.3). Estimate the stellar magnitude of the lunar
reflection if the distance to the ball L =2 m, its radius R =
0.5 cm, ball's albedo k =0.7 and the Moon's brightness is
m
0
=-12.7.
Figure 6 Mirror ball as an astronomical
instrument
29) One of the Io's hemispheres is constantly facing J upiter. Can an astronaut read the book without additional
light on that hemisphere'
30) How many weak stars of 6
m
can replace Venus in brightness?
31) The brightness of Mars in average opposition is about -2
m
. What would be the brightness of the Earth,
observed from Venus in inferior conjunction? (Mars's albedo is 0.16, Earth's albedo is 0.36).
32) Angular diameter of the solar spot of round shape, observed not far from the center of the disk is 17".
What is its linear size?
33) In the vicinity of the Sun due to the absorption by the interstellar dust the light from a star by passing a
distance of 10 pc decreases by 1 %. Considering the dust panicles as opaque balls of radius r =2 x 10
-5
cm,
find the average distance between the particles.

34) The Moon reflects about 7 % of the sunlight. Why then is its brightness hundred thousand times less than
solar brightness? (Nontrivial variant of this question: why then it illuminates the Earth hundred thousand
times weaker than the Sun?)
35) The globular cluster M92 in Hercules has angular diameter =8' and apparent brightness in m ~6;
distance to the cluster is r =10 Kpc. Find the absolute stellar magnitude of the cluster and its linear size.
Assuming that the cluster consists of the solar type stars find the number of stars in the cluster, their
average density and the average distance between them.
36) At the moment of observation a galaxy is at a distance of 330 Mpc and has a velocity V =30,000 km/sec.
What was the distance to it when the light reaching us now left the galaxy?
37) The brightness of Sirius is 22 times greater than of the
Sun. At what distance an observer on his way to Sirius
would notice that their magnitudes became comparable?
(Parallax of Sirius =0.373".)
38) An astronomer has noticed a meteor in zenith. The same
meteor in the direction to the center of the Earth was
observed by an astronaut from the orbit. Estimate the
radius of the astronaut's orbit if the magnitude of the
meteor for the astronaut was 1.5
m
weaker than for the
astronomer.
Figure 7 A Galaxy
39) American artist Author Woods proposed to create on
the near earth orbit the "Sculpture of the Earth" -
inflatable torus made from thin aluminium fail reflecting
70 % of the light. The diameter of the torus is proposed to be 800 in and thickness 50 m. Estimate the
brightness of this sculpture assuming that it is an heliosynchronous orbit with the radius 1000 km,
40) G. Galileo in his book "The master of test-tubes affairs" writes: "To ...the question about why the Moon is
not smooth and slippery I will answer that the Moon and all other planets are dark themselves (inside) and
only shine when illuminated by the sun. Therefore their surface shall be rough, for if it was smooth and
slippery as a mirror, the reflected light would not have reached us, and the} would have remained
invisible." Is Galileo correct?
41) Can one notice heliostationary satellite of 3 m diameter by the naked eye?
42) Which star will be the brightest on the sky for an astronaut in the vicinity of Proxima Centaurus (apart
from Proxima Centaurus itself)?
43) Up to what distance the human eye is still capable to notice stars like Sun?
44) A star is at a distance of 5.6 light years from the Sun and is moving towards the Sun along the straight
line, passing through it, with the velocity 111km/sec. In how many years this star will be twice as bright as
it is now?
45) Calculate the size of the flat mirror, which if installed on the Moon, will reflect the sunlight as a star of 3
m
.
The apparent stellar magnitude of the Sun is -2.7
m
, the distance to the Moon is 384,000 km and the albedo
of the mirror is 100%.
46) If we assume that albedo of Phobos is the same as of Mars (14%), then the radius of the satellite,
calculated from the visual brightness, is 7 km. However, the images of Phobos, obtained from the close
distance by the interplanetary probes showed that actual diameter is 10 km. What is the albedo of the
satellite in this case?
47) While calculating parallaxes of all stars, astronomers determined that 165 stars have parallax above
0.100". Estimate how many stars have parallaxes greater than 0.025".
48) How far from the Solar System one should move away for the Sun to look like a star of 18
m
if: (Assume

absolute stellar magnitude of the Sun M =+5
m
)
a) there is no interstellar absorption of light;
b) absorption is 3
m
in 1 Kpc.
49) A telescope can see stars with 19"'. Can one observe through it a globular cluster consisting of a million
solar type stars in a neighboring galaxy at a distance 10 Kpc from us?
50) If instead of the Moon on its place there would be a flat mirror of the same size, how would the Earth be
illuminated?
51) It is suspected that behind the Pluto's orbit there is a belt of large asteroids and comets (Kuiper belt). Can
one discover an asteroid of 350 km diameter with albedo about 7% at a distance of 100 AU from the Sun
with the help of the ground-based telescope with limiting magnitude 24
m
?

Astronomical Instruments and Observations.
1) A fly sat on a telescope's objective. How the view of the solar surface, which was observed through it,
changed?
2) How will the photograph of the full Moon change, if one will close right half of the telescope's objective?
3) Why till the end of XIX century in the observatories were installed mostly telescopes - refractors, but in XX
century mostly reflectors?
4) Which systems of telescopes-reflectors you know? Draw the light paths in these telescopes. Why in the
large telescopes it is possible to change the optical system?
5) What kind of spectrum has a fast rotating planet if the slit of a spectrograph is directed along its equator?
6) How, in principle, A. A. Belopolskii managed with the help of a spectrograph determine the meteorite
structure of saturnian ring?
7) The radial velocity of a planet near the point of summer solstice around twentieth of March was determined
from the spectrum to be 70 km/sec. In half a yeas this velocity was determined to be 130 km/sec.
Determine on the basis of these data the distance from the Earth to the Sun (this method was first proposed
by the academician A. A. Belopolskii).
8) What interesting objects you can see tonight in the 60 mm telescope with the magnification 40?
9) Some solar telescopes has vacuum inside the tube. Why it has been done?
10) Can you see stars in the day from the deep well?
11) What is Wolf number (W)? If observations showed W =200 and the number of solar spots is 100, what
can you say about the distribution of the solar spots on the disk?
12) The resolution of a human eye is about 100" and the quality of the images in the best observatories on
Earth is, about 1". It would seem that there is no need for the visual observations to make the telescopes
with magnifications of more than 100-I50. Why then the magnification of 300-600 is often used?
13) Why telescopes of the XVIII century had very long tubes?
14) What is the maximum exposure with which one should photograph the surface of the Earth to be able to
resolve the devils of the 10 m size, if the camera is fixed on a satellite orbiting the Earth at 300 km above
the surface?
15) Observations showed that the angular diameter of the Crab nebula increases by 0.4" every year. At the
same time the lines in the spectrum of the nebula are doubled with the distance between the lines
/=0.008. Why instead of one line we see double line? Estimate the distance to the nebula.
16) The observations in the x-ray of the lunar occupations of the Crab nebula showed that duration of the
coverage of half of the nebula is 1 min, estimate the diameter of the part of the nebula that emits in x-ray,
assuming the distance to the nebula to be 1.7 Kpc.
17) A space telescope is capable of registering much weaker stars than a ground-bused telescope of the same
size. Why?
18) The distance between the components of a Capella binary is 0.054". Which objectives one should use to
observe them separately through the telescope with D =1 m and focal length F =10 m and through
telescope with D =5 m and focal length F =30 m?
19) Why the image of a star on a photoplate has noticeable diameter, moreover, why is that the brighter the
star the larger is the diameter?
20) Recently on Hawaii the 10 m telescope Keck started its work. Estimate its limiting stellar magnitude for

the visual observations. Which magnification one should use at that?
21) Which telescope is more suitable for the study of the small details on the Moon: 4 m ground-based or 2 m
space telescope?
22) Why the apparent brightness of the artificial earth satellites is varying? Which instrument you will choose
for the observation of these satellites: binoculars with 80 mm diameter of the objectives and magnification
of 42 or 50 mm telescope with the magnification of 50?
23) Can one with the help of a space telescope working in the near-earth orbit measure the diameter of the
nucleus of the Halley's cornet, which will pass the Earth at the distance of 0.5 AU? Estimate the parameters
of such telescope.
24) Was Arthur Clark correct when he wrote in his novel "2001: a space odyssey" that ..soon as the day began
on the Moon and the first sun rays appeared, "the stars were ... banished"?
25) In 1991 one American engineer published a sensational book where it was stated -.pat American
astronauts never reached the Moon in 1969-72 and that all photo and tele-documents were made in a
special film studio on Earth. One of the main argument was that on the photographs presented by
astronauts on the black sky there were no stars. Can you explain what is the problem here?
26) Why all the domes of the observatories are white?
27) Why one can see the unilluminated surface of the young Moon (the ashen moonlight), but during the solar
eclipse we cannot see it? And, by the way, why the pirates had black sails?
28) From the letter of Pliny the Younger, who was the witness of the famous eruption of Vesuvius on August
24th 1979: "When I looked back (at the volcano-V.S.) I saw the thick darkness moving at us-not the kind
of darkness as on a new moon or on a cloudy night, but the kind of darkness inside the dosed room when
the lights are off." (cited from the book by Zenon Kosidovskii "When the Sun was a God", Moscow,
Nauka, 1968). The question is: why and in which way is the darkness of a new moon or of a cloudy night
different from the darkness of a closed room?
29) While observing a star in zenith it was found that the absorption in photographic range of the spectrum
was 0.45
m
. What would be the absorption when the star is at the horizon?
30) Why we say: spectral lines and not "spectral squares, circles, arcs" or even, say, some "spectral
flourishes"?
31) If our extraterrestrial friends from the neighboring star are measuring the radial velocity of the Sun with
the accuracy of 10 m/sec, can they notice the existence of a solar planetary system?
32) Which of the two telescopes diameter D and focal length F one should use to photograph the binary with
the distance between the components 0.8", if the size of the photoemulsion is 30 m: a) D=35 cm, F=4 m;
b)D=10cm, F=12 m?
33) If the inhabitants of the planet a Cen systematically measure the position of the Sun with the accuracy of
0.01", can they notice the variations in the solar motion, caused by the movements of the planets of the
Solar System? Parallax of Cen =0.751".
34) Describe qualitatively how the visible size and the shape of the solar disk change due to the atmospheric
refraction.
35) On the photographs of the globular clusters the stars in the core are merged together. Is it really means that
the density of the stars there is so high that they are touching each other?
36) Amateur astronomers in order to increase the magnification of the telescopes sometimes suggest to
observe the images through the microscope and not through the eye-piece. Is it advisable to do that?
37) How to distinguish a solar spot from the shadow of the disk of the planet?

38) How the limiting stellar magnitude will change if one is photographing on the Moon, where the brightness
of the sky is half the brightness of the Earth sky?
39) Due to the precession the pole of the sky performs one round about the axis of ecliptic in 26,000 years
with a radius of 23.5. How often one shall correct the direction of the polar axis in the equatorial mount so
that the angle between the polar axis and the celestial axis wouldn't exceed 0.1?
40) Can one take a photograph of a solar spot of a diameter 2' with the camera....(obscure)?
41) Can one construct a telescope for a visual observations consisting of only one lens? If yes then what shall
be the parameters of this lens in order to obtain the magnification of 50 with the 10' field of view?
42) The solar spot has an angular size of 1' for the observer on the Earth. Can this spot be seen with the naked
eye by an observer from Mercury? Venus? Mars`?
43) A theoretical astronomer after coming to his work place in the morning learned that the solar eclipse is just
beginning. How, having nothing but the paper and the pencil at hand, can he observe the partial phases of
the eclipse?
44) The photon flux from 0
m
star is about 10
6
photons/cm
2
/sec. How many photons will fall on the photoplate
from 20
m
star in one hour if the diameter of the objective is 1m?
45) Using the conditions for the previous problem, estimate the quantum efficiency of the human eye, taking
into account that in especially favourable conditions (like at the high altitudes after prolonged adaptation)
the eye can see stars up to the 8
m
, and the time of the light collection by the retina is 0.1 sec.
46) Prove that the brightness of an extended object on the eye retina during observations through the telescope
is the same as during the unaided observations.
47) Why the photographing of the planets always fails to register small details on their disks which otherwise
are noticeable by visual observations?
48) In a multiple system (Hydra the farthest component D has brightness of 12.5
m
. lts distance from the
brightest component A, which has brightness of 3.7
m
is 20". A telescope of which diameter one shall use
for the observations of these stars?
49) In 1975 a signal to one of the globular clusters was sent from the radio-telescope in Arecibo (Puerto-Rico)
(diameter D =305 m) on a wavelength A =21 cm. Was it necessary to take into account the displacement
of the cluster during the time of the travel of a signal, in other words, to send a signal with an angular
forestalling?
50) If quantities A =112 and B =102 are measured with an accuracy of 1 %, with what accuracy the quantity
(A - B) is calculated?
Figure 8 Halley's Comet
51) If the place of the spectral line on a photoplate is measured with an accuracy 0.02 mm, with what accuracy
one can determine the radial velocity of a star by its
spectrum taken with the dispersion: a) 200 A/mm; b) 1
A/mm?
52) How will the number of stars on a photoplate increase
if the exposure of a photoplate is increased 2.5 times?
53) In order to increase the angular resolution of the
observations astronomers sometimes use lunar
occulations of sources. Estimate which part of the sky
is, in principle, available for the observations from the
Earth using this method?
54) On a photograph of Halley's comet (Fig. 8.1), obtained
in December 1985 in Crimean Astrophysical Observatory, one can see short streaks-the traces of the
motion of the images of the stars. A correspondent of one newspaper, which published the photograph,

wrote: "The time of exposure was a whole hour, that is why due to the rotation of the Earth stars turned
into dashes". And what do you think?
55) In 1991 one J apanese amatuer astronomer, while photographing the Moon on a video camera, registered a
black dot which in a few seconds crossed the surface of the Moon. Newspapers presented this fact as a
sensation asserting (insisting) that it was a discover} of a giant UFO in a near-moon orbit: "This UFO has a
diameter of 20 km and moves with the speed of 200 km/sec". And what do you think the camera had
registered?
56) Orion nebula looks colourless during visual observations in the telescope but on the coloured photographs
it has a variety of colours? Why is it so`?
57) In an observatory was working a 2m telescope, which with the 20 min exposure could photograph sars
upto 20
m
. Then a new multi-mirrored telescope was constructed with 6 mirrors 3 m diameter each. What
exposure is necessary now to photograph the same stars?
58) Why is it possible to conduct radioastronomical observations during the day but in the optical range only
solar observations are possible?

Motion of Celestial Bodies.
1) A spaceship landed on 1 km diameter asteroid, which had the average density of 2.5 g/cm
3
. Astronauts
decided to go round the equator on a Landrover in 2 hours. Can they do that'?
2) Astronauts landed on an asteroid and the communication with them broke down. They have oxygen
reserves for 2 hours. Can their friends on a mothership fly round the asteroid in search for the lost
astronauts in this time if its density is 2.5 g/cm
3
?
3) Determine the height of the orbit of a telesatellite which is always in zenith above Moscow.
4) Can a comet be all night on the (near the) meridian of an observer?
5) Halley's comet revolves around the Sun once in 76 years; Neptune does it once in 165 years. Whose
aphelion is farther from the Sun?
6) In a J ulie Verne's novel "Hector Servadak" a Halley's comet is described, which has a distance from the Sun
in aphelion of 820 million km and a period of 2 years. Could such a comet exist?
7) How the orbital velocity of a planet depends on a radius of its orbit?
8) Imagine a scientific base on a surface of an asteroid. Astronauts are playing soccer and one of them, having
hit the ball a bit too strongly, made it fly away with a speed equal to the first space velocity for that
asteroid. Will the ball become a satellite of this asteroid?
9) What would be a period of diurnal rotation of Mercury if its orbit were absolutely circular?
10) Why Pluto and its satellite Chiron have a synchronized period of rotation whereas the Earth's period is
much shorter than the Moon's?
11) Why astronomers couldn't determine the mass of Venus by the observations from the Earth using the same
technique as was used for the mass determination of the most of the planets?
12) To illustrate how great is the distance from the Sun to the Earth poet Hebel in his "Treasure-house" used
such an example: "A gunner (artilleryman) on the Sun is directing his cannon right at you. You are fleeing
in fright. But do not worry: you don't have to hurry up as you have a lot of time to avoid the shell
(projectile)." (from V. Litzman "Giants and midgets in the world of numbers", M., Fizmat, 1959, p. 17).
Determine the time of travel of the missile launched from the Sun towards the Earth with the initial
velocity 5000 km/hr.
13) Determine the mass of the Moon in units of the Earth's mass, if the first artificial lunar satellite Luna-10
had a period of 2
h
58
m
in an orbit which lay within the range from 361 to 1007 km above the lunar surface.
Take the radius of the Moon R
c
=1737 km.
14) It was decided to launch a spaceship from the Earth to the center of the Galaxy. With what velocity and in
what direction it shall be launched?
15) Because of the crash of the American spaceship Challenger, which happened in the beginning of 1986, the
planned space launches of the automatic stations Galileo to J upiter and Ullis to the polar regions of the Sun
were postponed for 13 months. Why exactly 13 months?
16) During the supernova explosion a star ejected the shell, mass of which was this star survive?
17) The Moon through its tidal effect is braking the diurnal rotation of the Earth. In a few billions of years
their rotation will synchronize and the Earth will be constantly facing the Moon with one side (just like the
Moon now is facing the Earth). Then the sidereal lunar month will be equal to the present-day value of
twenty-four hours. What would be the duration of the solar day on the Earth then ?

10) Figure 9 Are the orbits parts equivalent
18) Suppose that around each star there is a
planet with Jupiter's mass and orbital period.
Determine at a star of what mass it is easier to
discover the presence of a planet if one
measures:
a) a) angular displacement of a star,
b) b) variation in a radial velocity of a star.
19) Elliptical orbit of a comet was cut into two
parts by a straight line passing through the Sun
(Fig. 9.1). Prove that the comet is receiving an
equal amount of a solar heat in each of the two
parts of the trajectory.
20) How the duration of a Year will change on
Earth when the Sun will turn into a white
dwarf with mass M
WD
=0.61M

?
21) Three equal mass stars form an equilateral triangle with the
side L and move around the common center of mass in a
circular orbits with the period P (Fig. 9.2). Find masses of
these stars.
22) Altair ( Aquilae) has an annular parallax =0.198", proper
motion y = 0.658", radial velocity V = -26 km/sec and
brightness m =0.89
m
. When Altair will move to the closest
distance from the Sun, what is this distance and what would be
its brightness?
Figure 10 Determine the masses of the
stars
23) How one can prove that the Sun together with the neighboring
stars is rotating around the center of the Galaxy?
24) Determine the velocity of the possible collision of a spaceship flying to J upiter with a meteor in the
asteroid hell. Assume that the spaceship is flying along a straight line from the Earth with turned off
engines.
25) Let the Sun rotate around the center of the Galaxy in circular orbit with the radius R

=10 Kpc and

average velocity V

=250 km/sec. Assuming all the mass of the Galaxy (M

G
) to he concentrated in the
center, find M
G
, the duration of the galactic year (i.e. the period of the rotation of the Sun) and the
minimum velocity that the spaceship shal1 acquire to leave the Galaxy.
26) From which side of the Earth - day or night - it is energetically (energy) advantageous to launch the
spaceship to Mercury?
27) A spaceship was launched in such a manner that after leaving the sphere of the Earths gravitational
attraction it started a free fall to the Sun along a practically straight line. How many days this fall would
take?
28) Three stars with the same mass M are on a straight line and move in such a way that one of them is in the
center of the circle along which two others rotate. Determine the period of rotation.
29) With what velocity and in which direction a spaceship shall be launched from the Earth in order to fall or.
the Sun?
30) In the science-fiction novel of A. Rundberg "A J ourney to the Earth" (Alma-Ata, "Kazakhstan", 1987) the
king of the planet Lunx tells to the defeated rivals from the planet Ricket: "I grant you the peace only on
the condition that every ninth year Ricket will send seven noble maidens and seven noble youths to Lunx. I
intend to offer these maidens and youths to Taurus... Each full moon one young life of a noble ricketian

will be sacrificed to a monster for a torments." The question is: could in reality the duration of the lunar
month be as connected with the duration of a year as on the planet Lunx?
31) What would happen to the Solar System if the
Sun suddenly disappears (Fig. 9.3)?
Figure 11 What would happen to the solar system
32) Is it possible to send the probe to the Moon by
shooting it from the cannon from the surface of
the Earth? To Mars? To the Sun? In the orbit of
artificial earth satellites?
33) In which case the energy expenditures are less:
launching the space probe from the spaceship or
from the cannon?
34) While observing a comet near the Sun, astronomers determined that its orbit is hyperbolic. Will this comet
leave the Solar System forever?
35) Recall "Little prince" by A. de St. Exupery. When Prince was visiting different wonderful planets, he
visited the planet of a Lamplighter, which "makes one full rotation about its axis in one minute". Estimate
the density of that planet. To which class of astronomical objects can it belong?
36) Calculate the distance from the Earth at which a point is located where the gravitational attraction between
the Earth and the Moon is the same. Assume the distance between the Earth and the Moon to be equal to
60 Earth radii and the ratio of masses as 1:81. Can a spaceship remain motionless at this point?
37) If all the momentum of the Solar System were concentrated in the Sun, what would be its angular
velocity?
38) Would the meteorite showers be observable in the second half of the night, if the meteors would always
only following the Earth in its orbital motion?
Figure 12 What is the fate of the satellite?
39) From the board of the EAS, rotating in the circular
equatorial orbit, a weightless rope was stretched to the
Earth and :he end was fixed on the equator (Fig. 9.4).
What would be the fate of the satellite after that?
40) Estimate maximum and minimum velocities of a
satellite entering the Earth's atmosphere.
41) An EAS was launched in the polar orbit. Is it possible
that the Sun does not illuminate the whole orbit;
illuminates hail of it or illuminates the whole orbit?
42) Mizar ( Ursae Majoris) has a radial velocity of 9
km/sec, proper motion of 0.13" a year and parallax of
0.038". What is its spatial velocity? In what time will
it move away from Alcor (companion of Mizar).
43) You are hanging motionlessly in the center of a
spherical orbital station 20 m diameter and holding a rubber ball in your hand, the mass of which is 1000
times less than yours. If you throw the ball with the velocity of 10 m/sec what is the minimum time it will
take for to reach the wall?
44) An EAS was first in a geostationary orbit. Then it was moved in an circular equatorial orbit of a double
diameter. How often now it is crossing the meridian of a stationary terrestrial observer?
45) In a binary each component has a mass 2M and they arc moving in a circular orbit at a distance of I AU
from each other. What is the maximum difference in their radial velocities for an observer on the Earth, if
the inclination of the binary orbit (i) is: a) 0, b) 90, c) 45?

Space Travel and Nature of the Planets
1) A spaceship left the Solar System with the velocity of 30 km/sec in the direction of the Galaxy center. In
how many year it will reach the center?
2) There are a lot of old satellite in the Earth's orbit which represent a danger to the acting satellites and
astronauts working in space. Suggest a method of removing them from the orbit.
3) What height would have taken the pole-vaulter on the Moon?
4) American astronauts working on the orbital station Skylab (1973) were jogging along the inner surface of
the station, which was actually a cylinder with the diameter 6 m. With what speed one shall run in these
conditions to experience the terrestrial gravity? How shall the station be oriented at that?
Figure 13 How to measure the density with a watch?
5) How much time will take a spaceship, moving with the velocity 30 km/sec, to reach the nearest to the Sun
star Proxima Centaurus, which parallax is 0.76"?
6) Having approached an unknown planet, a
spaceship went in a low circular orbit. Would
astronauts be able to determine the average
density of the planets using only a watch (Fig.
10.1)?
7) Why the density of craters on the surface of jovian
satellites is increasing monotonically from Io to
Callisto?
8) Can one observe meteors on Mercury? Would it
be possible to discover meteorites on its surface?
9) On which Solar System bodies was found the
volcanic activity?
10) Why for some time after the landing the astronauts sleep without the pillows?
11) American astronauts on the orbital station Skylab during the recreation hours were trying to play darts
with the suction cup but failed. Why?
12) On the Earth a small spark is enough to inflame the gas methane. Why on J upiter, where the powerful
electric discharges are occurring constantly, the methane in the atmosphere does not inflame?
13) Astronauts on Mars decided to warm-up near the small fire. They have a bucket of kerosene, thermite
packet and wooden boxes. What would you advise them to use as a fuel for the fire?
14) On Venus the cloud cover is so dense that from its surface the Sun and stars are never seen. How then to
tell night from day there?
15) Describe briefly the advantages that usage satellites and spaceships give to astronomy.
16) Where it is easier to swim in the water: on the earth or on the Moon?
17) On the Earth a candle burns for 2 hours. How many hours it will burn on the board of a satellite?
18) Two manned satellites are moving in the same circular orbit at some distance from each other. What
should do the pilot of the rear satellite in order to catch up with the front one? What is the minimum
number of corrections?
19) Station Mars-3 has a period of rotation of 12 days and its minimum distance from the center of Mars is
5000 km. What is its maximum distance from the surface of Mars?
20) A rocket engine can develop a thrust equal exactly to the weight of the rocket. Can this rocket be launched

into space?
21) Due to the modern views the water on Mars (if there is a water) is concentrated in the layer of permafrost
on the polar caps. But if there is water on Mars, why then in the tropical regions where the temperature can
be above 0, there are no open reservoirs with the liquid water?
22) On April 12th 1961 Yu. A. Gagarin took off in a spaceship Vostok; from the spacedrome Baikonur. The
ship was moving in an orbit of artificial Earth satellite with 1.5 hrs period and had landed after one
revolution. In what place relative to Baikonur it landed?
23) Imagine yourself on a spaceship orbiting an unknown planet above the terminator line. How to determine
the period of the rotation of the ship if you only have a watch and optical instruments?
24) How in the conditions of complete cloudiness could venusian inhabitants determine the duration of a year?
25) How to orientate yourself on Venus? (How to determine parts of the world on Venus?)
26) An interplanetary spaceship is launched into the interstitial (intermediate) earth orbit. At which point of
the orbit it is more advantageous to start the engine to accelerate to the second space velocity?
27) A shaft is dug through the Earth. How to use this shaft to launch the rockets into space? How much fuel it
will save? (What fuel economy it will give?) What shape shall have this shaft if it is built between:
a) North and South Pole;
b) Diametrically opposite points on the equator (Fig. 10.2)?
28) What should have been the length of the cannon in the J . Verne's novel "From the cannon to the Moon" in
order for the acceleration for the travellers not to exceed 10g? How much will increase the weight of a
human body at the start?
29) It was decided to turn our earth into a giant spaceship. Is it possible to use modern chemical rocket
propulsion engines for that purpose?
30) Why rocket fuel shall have the maximum possible combustion heat?....?
Figure 14 Through the shaft to the
stars
31) It is proposed to use water as a rocket fuels first decompose water electrically (break) into oxygen and
hydrogen, then mix the resulting gases, and burn the generated
"fire-damp" ("detonating mixture") in the rocket engine. Estimate
this project.
32) Three identical pendulum clocks were placed:
a) on the Earth;
b) on the Moon in the air;
c) on the Moon in the vacuum.
Which one of them will go faster and which-slower?
33) Astronomers monitoring the Sun on the Earth see the solar flare
simultaneously with astronauts observing the Sun. What is then the
point in having the terrestrial solar flare patrol, created specially to warn the astronauts about the danger?
34) A rocket is moving vertically away from the Earth with the constant acceleration =9.8 m/sec
2
. How the
weight of the rocket changes as it moves farther and farther from the Earth?
35) Suppose the properties of the Earth's atmosphere have changed in such a way that it started to reflect the
visible light and transmit infrared. How the temperature of the Earth's surface would change? Where and
when on the Earth similar conditions do arise?

Astrophysics.
1) Astronomers know about the comets which pass the Sun at the distance of 1-2 solar radii from its surface.
Why they do not evaporate in the solar corona, where the temperature exceeds million degrees?
2) It is supposed that the Moon, like the Earth, had an atmosphere at some point. How to explain why the
Moon lost its atmosphere and the Earth has not?
3) At the place of supernova explosion in 1987 in LMC the optical pulsar with the period 0.002 sec was
discovered. Assuming that superluminal velocity is impossible, estimate the size of the pulsar. To which
class of Mars belongs this compact object? {Note: this problem wag suggested in-the 1989 Olympiad,
when astrophysicists had no doubt about the discovery. However, later the discovery of the newborn pulsar
was not confirmed: the reason for the variability of the optical signal was lying in the high voltage
interference in the electronic blocks of the telescope. Still; in the middle of 1994 again the reports appeared
confirming the earlier discovery. But majority of specialists are still skeptical and consider that upto now
there are found no signs of the compact object at the place on the supernova explosion in LMC. It is
possible that in the nearest future this controversy will be resolved by new observations.} Nevertheless,
this problem has a meaning and a proper solution. Moreover, such fast pulsars do exist and are of
tremendous interest to astrophysicists.
4) It was found from the observations of the radiopulsars that the intervals between their pulses are changing
periodically, besides, for all pulsars this period is the same and equal to one stellar (sidereal) year. Explain
this phenomenon. Estimate how the period between the pulses of a Crab pulsar (P
PSR
=0.033 sec) changes.
In which month this period is minimum?
5) A pulsar has an extremely periodic signal and is moving uniformly and rectilinear with respect to the
observer. Prove that the observed period between the pulses will either increase or remain constant with
time independent on the direction and the velocity of its motion. Do not take into account the motion of the
Earth in the Solar System.
6) There is a hypothesis that the periodicity in the solar activity is connected with the tidal interaction of the
Sun with the rest of the planets. The maximum interaction the Sun is experiencing from J upiter and Venus.
Determine the period of the maximum tides on the solar surface. Is this period close to the duration of the
solar activity cycle?
7) Molecules of hydroxyl (OH) in a dense interstellar gas cloud emit variable maser radiation at the
wavelength A =18 cm. Estimate the maximum size of the radiating region if variation have a characteristic
time of 5 minutes.
8) Why UV space telescope is necessary to observe the interstellar absorption lines of most of the chemical
elements, whereas the absorption lines of the same elements in stellar atmospheres one can study by usual
ground optical telescope?
9) How do astronomers distinguish hot stars, reddened by the interstellar light absorption, from the actual cold
red stars?
10) In spectra of normal stars we can see absorption lines because relatively cold atmosphere gas of a star
screens its much hotter inside regions. What then you can say about the structure of stars, in whose spectra
we see emission lines?
11) Suppose that iron and calcium have a spectral line with the same wavelength. How would you determine
which element is present in the atmosphere of a star if you found this line in its spectrum?
12) Two galaxies, similar to our Galaxy, collide with a velocity of 1000 km/sec. Estimate how many stars will
collide with each other.
13) English proverb says: "The neighbor's yard is always greener". Is this observation justified, and if yes,
which reasons, apart from an ordinary envy, could explain it? With what phenomenon on the surface of the
Sun can you find analogy?

14) Observations show that light from a star, occulted by saturnian rings, is attenuated by approximately 1m,
and the width of the rings, do not exceed 3 km. Using these data, estimate how often and with what
velocities particles of the rings collide with each other.
15) How to prove that stars shine by themselves, but planets shine by reflecting the light?
16) The brightness of a nova, blazed up in Vela constellation on August 29th 1975, had increased from 21
m
to
2
m
. In the spectrum of this star a hydrogen line with =4861 A was blueshifted by 41 A. Determine the
increase of the luminosity of the star at the moment of explosion and the velocity with which the shell was
ejected (thrown off).
17) Is there a connection between planetary nebulae and planets?
18) An asteroid is rotating around the Sun and around its axis in the same direction. How the radius of its orbit
changes due to the action of the radiation from the Sun (both incident and reflected)?
19) In the center of the Sun the temperature; 15.10
6
K and thermonuclear reactions are occurring there. Why
then Sirius, which is a white dwarf, does not have these reactions, though the temperatures inside it are
estimated to be 40.10
6
K?
20) In our Galaxy a star of a spectral class B is born on average once in 50 years. How many such stars are
now in the Galaxy if the lifetime of such star is about 108 years?
21) Solar wind consists of protons moving with a velocity of 300 km/sec and its density in the interplanetary
space near the Earth's orbit is 10 particles in 1 cm
3
. What is the force with which this wind "presses" the
Moon? Protons mass is m
P
=1.6 x 10
-24
g.
22) What observational data contradicts the statement that the source of the energy of the stars is the fission of
the radioactive elements?
23) Which of the stars of the same spectral class have higher surface temperature: a giant or a dwarf?
24) Angular diameter of an elliptical galaxy is d =3'. Hydrogen absorption line H

in its spectrum has a

wavelength =4866A and a width =3A. Estimate mass of the galaxy. A laboratory wavelength of a line
H

is
0
=4861A.
25) How much the luminosity of the Sun will change if half of its surface area would be covered by the solar
spots?
26) Two radio sources are ejected from the nucleus of a distant galaxy in the opposite directions along a line,
having 60 inclination to the line of sight, with constant identical velocities V =2c/3. How much closer
one source will seem to be to the center of the galaxy than the other?
27) Why do larger mass stars have a shorter lifetime than stars of smaller mass?
28) A radio source was ejected from a quasar nucleus in the direction of an observer at an angle of 30 to the
line of sight with a near-luminal velocity. What would be the apparent velocity of the source if the observer
can measure only its angular displacement?
29) Effective temperature of the solar photosphere is 4580 K; of a solar spot (on average inside the penumbra}
4500 K. How much less is the brightness of the spot than that of the photosphere?
30) It is known that energy can be transmitted by (heat) conduction (diffusion), convection and radiation. In
which way is the energy from the nuclear source in the center of the Sun transmitted to its photosphere?
31) Gravitational attraction of the Earth to the Sun is 6.10
10
times greater than the pressure of the solar
radiation on it. Determine the radius of the spherical particles, which would move rectilinear near the Sun
in any direction, assuming that the density and the absorption coefficient of these particles is the same as of
the Earth.
32) What is the average density of the white dwarf which has a mass equal to solar mass, luminosity-thousand

times less than solar and surface temperature-twice of the solar surface temperature?
33) An artificial planet was moved from the Earth orbit to the Mars's orbit and was painted black. Its
temperature at that hasn't changed. What fraction of the light the planet was reflecting initially?
34) At the end of its evolution the Sun will start expanding and turn into a red giant. In the result of that the
temperature of its surface will fall to half of its value and its luminosity will increase 400 times. Will Sun
swallow any of the planet?
35) How would a star sky look for the observer flying on a subluminal spaceship (i.e.. with the velocity close
to the velocity of light)?
36) What would happen to a drop of water placed instantly into the open space?
37) Explain why Titan-saturnian satellite-managed to preserve its atmosphere, but Mercury didn't?
38) Why a hydrogen bomb explodes, while the Sun does not, though in both cases the energy is produced in
the result of the thermonuclear reaction of the conversion of hydrogen into helium?
39) A spherical galaxy in the constellation Sculptor has a mass of 4.10
39
g and its distance from our Galaxy is
R =85 Kpc. Mass of our Galaxy is M =2.10
44
g. Determine what could be the maximum radius r of the
galaxy in Sculptor so that it would not be destroyed by a tidal interaction with our Galaxy?
40) List and briefly explain the methods with which the diameters of stars are determined.
41) The semi-major axis of an asteroid orbit is 10 AU, its eccentricity is 0.85 and albedo of its surface is 0.14.
Calculate the maximum and the minimum surface temperature of the asteroid during its orbital period
using the fact that the Moon's albedo is 0.07 and average temperature is 0 C.
42) A white dwarf with mass 0.9 M

and radius 6000 km is moving towards the Sun at a speed of 60 km/sec.

Are the lines of its spectrum blueshifted or redshifted?

Astronomical Quiz
In this section are collected the simple problems, which rather require intuition, experience and sense of
humour than detailed calculations. They can be of a use for the evenings of "science for fun" ("science for
entertainment") and other such affairs.
1) J uly, noon. Can you see stars in the sky?
2) An astronomer is observing the full Moon with a telescope. A naughty boy is covering the right half of the
objective. Draw, how the view of the Moon changed.
3) An astronaut has pushed off from the orbital station, which is moving at the height of 400 km, and started
moving towards the Earth with the velocity 4 km/sec. How long will it take for him to reach the Earth?
4) Can one receive a New Year presents 4 times a year?
5) XXI century. Martian observatory measured the parallax of a star to be 0.1". What is the distance to the
star?
6) An astronomer was regularly measuring the radial velocity of a star by the position of its spectral lines. Half
a year ago it was 100 km/sec, but today it is only 20 km/sec. What does it mean?
7) The first image of an asteroid from a very close distance was obtained in 1991. How then long before that
astronomers knew that asteroids have an irregular shape?
8) Suppose the Earth stopped in its orbit. In what time will it fall on the Sun? GUESS THE NUMBER!
9) As it is known, an ant is stronger than an elephant, since it is lifting the weight many, times greater its own,
whereas an elephant cannot do that. An ant even runs faster:: it runs the length equal to the length of its
body in a lesser time than an elephant. Let us look at the celestial bodies from this point of view.
a) In what time the Earth in its orbital motion travels the distance equal to its diameter?
b) In what time the Sun in its orbit around the galactic center travels the distance equal to its diameter?
10) With what acceleration does the Sun moves in the Galaxy?
11) How many neutrino pass through the tip of your nose every second, if all the solar energy is obtained by
the conversion of the hydrogen into helium?
12) How much antimatter is inside the Sun?
13) Surface of which planet the Sun illuminates as bright as a table lamp illuminates the pages of your book?
14) Is it possible to do poker-work on a full moon in the focus of a 10-m telescope, like it is done with a lens
on a sunny day?
PROBLEMS OF CAPTAIN FIBBER (with a multiple choice)
Captain Fibber is a well known and loved cartoon character, who, nevertheless, is quite a boaster and not to be
trusted. These problems are based on some of his adventures.
15) Captain Fibber on his Yacht "Trouble", while travelling in a northern seas, entered a fjord and moored in a
narrow strafe. In the. night there was a low tide, the water went away and the yacht hung in the air, wedged
between the two sides of the strafe. "There is an abyss of 40 feet under the keel!"-writes Captain Fibber.
a) Do you believe him? VARIANTS: YES NO
b) What is the maximum height the tides reach in the open sea? VARIANTS: 1 cm, 10 cm, 50 cm, 3 m, 10
m, 15 m

c) What is the maximum height of a tide near the shore? VARIANTS: 1 cm, 10 cm, 50 cm, 3 m, 10 m, 15
m
16) While leaving St. Petersburg port, captain Fibber put his chronometer correctly by the local time. But in
the sea, as narrates captain Fibber, happened the following: "...going down to my cabin, taking out my
chronometer and discovering a strange change in its character: the instrument was, as I said, tame, but
after, you know, lying around without tending and care, became quite wild, showing god knows what: at
sunrise, it is shows noon, Sun goes to the noon, it shows 6 pro...". Can you determine in which ocean was
the yacht "Trouble" then?
VARIANTS: Pacific Indian Atlantic
17) Do you remember how captain Fibber was sailing "with cocks"? When he left England, he took with him
two young cocks, bought in Greenwich. As soon as the cocks start crowing, captain Fibber starts
observations with the sextant. What was the role of the cocks?
a) Cocks crow was signifying the same universal time, which captain Fibber must know in order to
determine the coordinates (position) of the yacht;
b) Cocks were waking the captain at the moment of the sunrise, which is necessary to determine the
coordinates (position) of the yacht;
c) Cocks are crowing only in the clear weather, when the stars are seen, which the captain was using to
determine the coordinates (position) of the yacht.

Old Hottabych Problems
In this chapter are collected a few problems which were born during reading the fantasy story "Old Hottabych"
by L. I. Lagin. Adventures of old genie and his young friends - Volka and Zhenya - are known to all Russian
children. But how many remember that Volka Kostylkov was an amateur astronomer, the acting member of
astronomical society at Moscow planetarium and even its senior member? Most probably because of that there
are a lot of episodes in the story, which would make ponder over each astronomer amateur.
It is possible that the example of "Old Hottabych" story will urge you on to the scientific analysis of other
fantasy and science-fiction books. Sometimes their content turn out to be considerably richer than it would
seem from the first sight. May be you would like to prepare in your school the evening "Magic and Science" or
"Contest of Sorcerers", where children can discuss and give a scientific appraisal to the miracles, performed by
the heroes of different books. And may be one of you would decide to perform a miracle yourself?
Acquaintance with science will help you in it!
18) The first gift from genie Hottabych to Volka was a wrist watch. First, since genie was unfamiliar with the
modem technology (he was very very ancient), the watch was made- of a one piece of gold and without
any mechanism inside. It, of course, didn't show any time. "Is there really shall be something, inside?"-the
old genie began to feel anxious. Instead of the answer Volka silently took off the watch and handed it back
to Hottabych.
-Very well,-meekly consented genie.-I will present such a watch to you that would not have anything
inside.
Golden watch again materialized on Volka's wrist, but this time it was thin and flat. The glass cover has
disappeared and instead of second, minute and hour hands appeared in the center of the dial-plate a small
vertical golden pin and on the places, where the hour marks should have been, the wonderful, clear water
emeralds were sparkling.
-Never and no one, even the richest sultans of the Universe, have ever had a wrist solar watch!-was
boasting again the old genie.-There were solar clocks in city squares, there were on the markets, in the
gardens, in the palaces, and all of them were cut out of stone. But these one I just invented myself. Is it not
bad, really?
-Indeed, to happen to be the first and the only owner in the whole world of a wrist solar watch was very
alluring."
So, can one make a wrist solar watch? If yes, then why even the richest sultans never had ones?
19) "-Blessed Volka,-said after the breakfast Hottabych, blissfully basking in the sun,-all the time I am making
presents to you, to my understanding-valuable, and each time they turn out to be not to your heart (desire).
May be we shall do this: you yourself will tell me what would you ... like to get as a gift from me, and I
would be happy ... to immediately realize the desired. -Then present me a large naval binoculars,--replied
Volka immediately." Why Volka selected exactly such a present?
20) Volka and Hottabych went on a flying carpet to rescue Zhenya from the slavery: "Evening twilight
blanketed the city, but here, in the. sky, was still seen the crimson solar disk, slowly sinking behind the
horizon.
-Interesting...-thoughtfully uttered Volka, it is interesting, at what height we are row?
-Six or seven hundred loktei,-answered Hottabych, while counting something on his fingers".
Was Hottabych correct in determining the height of the flight, if for the ground observer the Sun has
already set, but from the flying carpet it was seen nearly entirely? Lokot (elbow)-old Russian measure of a
length equal to approximately half a meter).