Jeevan Netraaj Singh Sidhu

Discussion Section 005

GSI: Mr. Dan Abramov
Astronomy 101 Fall 2015
Weekly Project 1
1. At selected times (i.e. during a total eclipse) the angular size of the moon and the Sun are exactly
equal. a. What parameters do these angular sizes depend upon?
b. Compute the radius of the Sun in units of the moons radius. Show your calculations, and cite the
sources of the information you needed to look up to solve this problem.
Answer
a. Physical (actual) size and distance
b.

Radius of the moon =

=
=

0.5

)
360

2
2 384000
360
2

= 1675.516082 km

~1676km

Radius of the sun =

0.5

2 150 , 000 , 00
0
360

= 654,498.4695 km
~ 654,498 km

Hence,

654, 498 km
1676

= 390.5119
~391

The radius of the Sun is approximately 391 times the radius of the moon
Citation
Bennett, Jeffrey, Megan Donahue, Nicholas Schneider and Mark Voit. The Cosmic Perspective: The solar System.
Boston: Pearson, 2014. Print.

2. Suppose you had a car that could go anywhere at a constant speed of 100km/hr (62 mi/hr), even in space.
Make sure to cite the sources for information you needed to look up to solve the problem.
a. How long would it take to drive around the Earths circumference at the equator? Assume that you can
drive across both land and oceans.
b. Suppose we left the Earth. How long would it take to drive to the Sun?
c.
How long would it take (in years) to drive the 4.4 light years to the nearby star Alpha Centauri?
Answer

2
a. Earths circumference = 2 2
= 2 (6378)
2

= 40074 km

40074
=
100

400.74 hours

/
Hence, to travel 40074km with a car that can travel at 100km/h, it will take 400.74 hours.
b.

Earth-Sun distance= 150,000,000 km

150,000,000 =1,500,000

hours

100/

Hence, to travel 150,000,000km with a car that can travel at 100km/h, it will take 1,500,000
hours

1 light year 9.46 10

c.

12

4.4

4.1624 1013

4.1624 1013
= 4.1624 10
11
100 /
Hence, to travel 4.4 light years with a car that can travel at 100km/h,

it will take 4.1624 1011

Citation
Bennett, Jeffrey, Megan Donahue, Nicholas Schneider and Mark Voit. The Cosmic Perspective: The solar
System. Boston: Pearson, 2014. Print.

3. If you were on Mars would Polaris still be the North Star? Explain your answer in around 100 words, and/or
using a carefully drawn diagram.

Answer

In short, no. Earths axis tilted by 23.5 from a line

perpendicular to the
ecliptic
plane.
orientated
so It so happens that the tilt makes the Earth to be
that it points almost directly to the North Star (Polaris). If we
were to be on
mars, its axis tilt would be 25. As a result of the variation in
its axis tilt, Mars
would
point isnot be pointing towards Polaris but instead at a diferent
space. Mars North Pole points to a spot in the sky which is
approximately
midway between the star Deneb and Alderamin. The best
candidate for
Mars North Star is half a degree of from its North Pole, but it
is too faint and barely visible to the eye. Hence, Mars doesnt
have a definitive North Star.
Citation
Bennett, Jeffrey, Megan Donahue, Nicholas Schneider and Mark Voit. The Cosmic Perspective: The solar System.
Boston: Pearson, 2014. Print.
"Does Mars Have a North Star? | EarthSky.org." EarthSky. Web. 18 Sept. 2015.

4. Imagine a civilization that decided to colonize nearby habitable worlds. The civilization sends out one colony
ship, which establishes a colony. 10,000 years later, the original world and the new colony each send out a
colony ship, which themselves establish colonies. 10,000 years later, the original world and each colony each
send out a colony ship, which establish colonies. The process continues.
a. Draw a graph of the number of worlds (the original world and colonized worlds), continuing to the first
100,000 years. Make sure to label your axes.
b. Harder : Write an expression for the number of worlds as a function of time t
c. Harder: Assuming this rate of growth can be sustained, how long would it take for this civilization to fill up
100 billion available worlds? An approximate calculation is OK, if you state your approximations or process
for reaching your answer.
d. Humanity has not yet succeeded in its search for intelligent extra-terrestrial life. In the context of your answer
to part c, describe in around 100 words some possible explanations for our failure to detect intelligent alien
life (if you didnt answer part c, never fear - explain one or more possible solutions to the Fermi Paradox).
.
Answer

Number of worlds in the frst 100,000

years

1200
Number of Worlds

1000

1024

800
600

51
2

number of
worlds

400
256

200
1
32

0
0

a.

b. f(t)= 21000

16

64

12
8

10000 20000 30000 40000 50000 60000 70000 80000 90000 100000 110000
Number of
Years

c. f(t)= 20
,
10000
when t=100000,
number of worlds is 1024.
If t= 300000, number of worlds would be 1,073,741,824
300,000

hence, f(300,000)= 2 10000

= 1,073,741,824

Or
Henc
e,

210 = 1024

(2 ) = (1024)
10 3 30
3
2 =
1,073,741,824

Filling up 1 billion worlds would take approximately 300,000

years.
d. It might be possible that in the context of the argument,
we are supposed to be the first ones to colonize a world.
Since we have not reached the technological capabilities to
colonize another planet, it might be the
reason why there is no other intelligent life in space.
Another reason might be that we are looking for intelligent
life using the wrong methods. We are sending radio waves
into space to look for a signal. It might be possible
that as we have come about to use radio waves, other
more advanced civilizations have been using other kind
of technology to reach us. This diference in technology
inhibits any kind of contact with the opposite sides.
Another solution might be that space is so vast that even
if there are other civilizations out there it might be too far
to reach them.