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    Phys521 Asst1

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    black_nogard
    This document is a physics assignment consisting of 9 questions covering topics in astronomy and astrophysics. It provides details on the assignment such as the due date, late penalties, and submission instructions. The questions cover a range of topics including telescopes and their properties, circumpolar stars, navigation using stars, properties of the Milky Way and solar system, and gravitational lensing. Students are asked to identify telescopes, calculate distances and masses, derive equations, and relate observations to astronomical objects and concepts.

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    Phys521 Asst1

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    black_nogard
    122 views2 pages
    This document is a physics assignment consisting of 9 questions covering topics in astronomy and astrophysics. It provides details on the assignment such as the due date, late penalties, and submission instructions. The questions cover a range of topics including telescopes and their properties, circumpolar stars, navigation using stars, properties of the Milky Way and solar system, and gravitational lensing. Students are asked to identify telescopes, calculate distances and masses, derive equations, and relate observations to astronomical objects and concepts.

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    This document is a physics assignment consisting of 9 questions covering topics in astronomy and astrophysics. It provides details on the assignment such as the due date, late penalties, and submission instructions. The questions cover a range of topics including telescopes and their properties, circumpolar stars, navigation using stars, properties of the Milky Way and solar system, and gravitational lensing. Students are asked to identify telescopes, calculate distances and masses, derive equations, and relate observations to astronomical objects and concepts.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    122 views2 pages

    Phys521 Asst1

    Uploaded by

    black_nogard
    This document is a physics assignment consisting of 9 questions covering topics in astronomy and astrophysics. It provides details on the assignment such as the due date, late penalties, and submission instructions. The questions cover a range of topics including telescopes and their properties, circumpolar stars, navigation using stars, properties of the Milky Way and solar system, and gravitational lensing. Students are asked to identify telescopes, calculate distances and masses, derive equations, and relate observations to astronomical objects and concepts.

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    Physics 521 Assignment # 1

    Prof. Matt Dobbs

    Handed out: Tues Sept 14, 2010


    Due at 8:35am Thurs Sept 23, 2010 in class.
    Assignments handed in after 8:35am on the due date will have a late penalty of 25%. No assignments will
    be accepted after the due date. Late assignments can be slipped under my office door, RPB 340.

    1. (6 marks) Identify a currently operating, research-active telescope in 3 of the following


    wavebands (your choice), and specify the wavelength (in cm) and energy (in eV) ranges
    to which they are sensitive. Also estimate their theoretical diffraction limits and state
    whether these are achieved.
    (1) radio, (2) mm-wave, (3) infrared, (4) optical, (5) ultra-violet, (6) x-ray, (7) γ-ray
    You may NOT use any of the telescopes discussed in the intro lectures for this class.
    Please provide the links to any web sites you use for this.

    2. (2 marks) Circumpolar stars are defined as stars that never set below the horizon
    of the local observer or stars that are never visible above the horizon. (The term
    “circumpolar” is a bit of a misnomer since all stars appear to move around the pole!)
    Calculate the range of declinations for these two groups of stars for an observer at
    latitude L.

    3. Navigating with the stars:

    (a) (1 mark) If you were to look up and see that the north star (assume for this part
    of the question that the north star sits exactly at the celestial north pole) is at
    an elevation of 49d, what is your latitude? Draw a detailed diagram showing the
    geometry.
    (b) (5 marks) The brightest star in the sky, Sirius, is at RA=06h45m08.9173s, DEC=16d42m58.01
    You are at an observatory and the Local Sidereal time is +2 hours. You look up
    and see Sirius at EL=23.283d, az=97.696d. What is your longitude and latitude?
    Use google maps to figure out which observatory you’re at.

    4. (2 marks) The Sun is at a distance of about 8 kpc from the galactic center and moves
    around the galactic center in a circular path with a velocity of about 220 km/s. Make
    a rough estimate of the mass of the Galaxy.

    5. Sirius, the brightest appearing star in the sky, has apparent bolometric magnitude of
    1.55 and parallax angle 0.377.

    (a) (3 marks) Find the distance to Sirius in units of (i) pc, (ii) light-years, and (iii)
    AU.
    (b) (1 mark) Find the distance modulus for Sirius.
    (c) (2 marks) Determine the absolute bolometric magnitude of Sirius and compare it
    with that of the Sun. What is the ratio of Sirius’ luminosity to that of the Sun?

    1
    6. (3 marks) Derive Kepler’s second law from Newton’s laws. Show all the steps clearly.
    You’ll find the derivation in many textbooks including Carroll and Ostlie.

    7. (1 mark) The orbital period of Mercury is 0.2408 years, what is its average distance
    from the sun?

    8. (2 marks, this was not covered in class) The earth’s semi-major orbital axis is 1 AU
    and its orbital eccentricity is e = 0.0167. Using the equations for an ellipse, what is
    the earth’s distance from the sun (in AU) at its perihelion and aphelion?

    9. (5marks) You observer strong gravitational lensing, with a perfectly circular Einstein
    ring having angular radius of 1.5 arcminutes. The lensing object is determined to
    have an angular diameter distance of 2500 Mpc and the distant source has an angular
    diameter distance of 5300 Mpc from you. What is its mass? Is this likely to be a
    galaxy or a galaxy cluster?

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