Pathways to Astronomy

Stephen E. Schneider

Chapter 30 The Earth's Atmosphere and Space Observatories - all with Video Answers

Educators

Chapter Questions

Problem 1

Why do stars twinkle more when they are near the horizon than when they are near the zenith? Draw a diagram to explain your answer.

Mayukh Banik

Numerade Educator

02:04

Astronomers have built telescopes that operate from highflying airplanes. What wavelength ranges would this be most useful for accessing? What potential challenges would arise when observing from an airplane?

Lottie Adams

Numerade Educator

01:40

Problem 3

In the polar regions, there can be entire days when the Sun remains below the horizon. Given the refraction of the atmosphere, what is the latitude farthest from the poles where you might experience a 24 -hour night?

Alexander Cheng

Numerade Educator

03:31

Problem 4

Suppose that in the atmosphere there are pockets of air of different density that are 10 meters across. If winds move these pockets of air at a speed of $30 \mathrm{kph}$, for how long is an image through a telescope likely to remain stable? How would having many of these pockets along your line of sight change your time estimate?

Alex Bretton

Numerade Educator

01:36

Problem 5

A telescope in low orbit around the Earth takes about 90 minutes to circle the Earth. If the telescope remained oriented in the same way relative to the Earth, by how many arc seconds would its direction change relative to the stars during a 1-second exposure? (Actually, space telescopes are stabilized by gyroscopes which maintain their orientation relative to the stars.

Prashant Bana

Numerade Educator

02:06

Problem 6

If the refraction of the atmosphere causes the Sun's position to shift by $0.5^{\circ}$ at the horizon, calculate how long the day would be on the equinox for someone living at the equator. Would that same day be longer or shorter for someone living at latitude $45^{\circ}$ ? Explain using a diagram.

Sri Datta Vikas Buchemmavari

Numerade Educator

Problem 1

Problem 2

Problem 3

Problem 4

Problem 5

Problem 6