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An Introduction to Astronomy and Astrophysics

Pankaj Jain

Chapter 1

Introduction - all with Video Answers

Educators


Chapter Questions

Problem 1

Use the Stellarium software to become familiar with the night sky. You should identify some of the prominent stars and planets visible in the night sky and try to visually locate them by direct observation.

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12:02

Problem 2

Use Stellarium to learn about the shapes of different constellations in the night sky. By direct observation, try to identify a few of them. Try also to identify the Milky Way.

Donald Albin
Donald Albin
Numerade Educator
01:27

Problem 3

(a) The standard unit of angle is degrees and its subdivisions minutes and seconds. An alternate unit is radians, defined in Figure 1.13. Verify that $180^{\circ}=\pi$ radians. Notice that for small angles, the length of the arc ABP is approximately equal to the chord AP . Hence $\theta$ is approximately equal to $\mathrm{D} / \mathrm{r}$ for small angles.
(b) Another unit of angle is hours, the same as the unit of time. In this case, $360^{\circ}=24^{\mathrm{h}}$ or $1^{\mathrm{h}}=15^{\circ}$, where the superscript (h) denotes hours. Each hour is further subdivided into minutes and seconds in direct analogy with time units. For example, $50^{\circ}=3^{\mathrm{h}} 20^{\mathrm{m}}$, that is, 3 hours and 20 minutes. Convert $40^{\circ}$ and $160^{\circ}$ into time units (hours, minutes, and seconds).

Ashley High
Ashley High
Numerade Educator
01:14

Problem 4

How was the mass and radius of the Earth measured historically? What is the best method to measure it at present?

Prabhu Ramji
Prabhu Ramji
Numerade Educator
06:07

Problem 5

How was the mass and radius of the Moon and the Sun measured historically? What is the best method to measure it at present?

Shoukat Ali
Shoukat Ali
Other Schools
01:04

Problem 6

Use Stellarium to observe the trajectories of different planets, the Sun, and the Moon. Notice that the trajectories of all the planets and the Moon lie roughly in a plane close to the ecliptic plane, the plane of apparent motion of the Sun.

Zach Steedman
Zach Steedman
Numerade Educator
02:39

Problem 7

Use Stellarium to see the retrograde motion of a planet such as Mars. You need to observe the motion of the planet with respect to fixed background stars. Hence you may observe the change in its position as you advance in units of a sidereal day. The retrograde motion is seen only when Mars approaches close to Earth. Hence you need to determine the time when this event happens. This can be easily done by experimenting with the software.

Donald Albin
Donald Albin
Numerade Educator
00:23

Problem 8

Verify that 1 sidereal day is equal to 0.99727 solar days.

David Collins
David Collins
Numerade Educator
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Problem 9

In analogy with a light year, we may also define a light day and a light month as the distance light travels in a day and a month, respectively. Determine the values of these distances in terms of the Astronomical Unit (AU).

Sarah Parrigin
Sarah Parrigin
Numerade Educator