Life in the Universe (4th Edition)
4th Edition
ISBN: 9780134089089
Author: Jeffrey O. Bennett, Seth Shostak
Publisher: PEARSON
expand_more
expand_more
format_list_bulleted
Concept explainers
Question
Chapter 3, Problem 61IF
To determine
Evaluate the time taken by the spacecraft to reach on the Alpha Centauri.
Expert Solution & Answer
Want to see the full answer?
Check out a sample textbook solution
Students have asked these similar questions
Suppose we find an Earth-like planet around one of our nearest stellar neighbors, Alpha Centauri (located only 4.4 light-years away). If we launched a "generation ship" at a constant speed of 1500.00 km/s from Earth with a group of people whose descendants will explore and colonize this planet, how many years before the generation ship reached Alpha Centauri? (Note there are 9.46 ××1012 km in a light-year and 31.6 million seconds in a year.
The international space station (ISS) orbits 400 km above Earth's surface at 7.66 km/s (17,100 mph). Suppose the ISS is moved to 400 km above Mars.
1. To maintain its orbit above Mars, will the ISS have to move faster or slower that its orbital speed around Earth? Justify your answer.
2. Will astronauts on the ISS feel lighter, heavier, or no change at all while in orbit around Mars. Explain your answer.
hding Light Years
26.1
How far is it from Los Angeles to New York? Pretty far, but it can still be measured in miles or
kilometers. How far is it from Earth to the Sun? It's about one hundred forty-nine million, six hundred thousand
kilometers (149,600,000, or 1.496 x 10 km). Because this number is so large, and many other distances in space
are even larger, scientists developed bigger units in order to measure them. An Astronomical Unit (AU) is
4:496x 108 km (the distance from Earth to the sun). This unit is usually used to measure distances within our
solar system. To measure longer distances (like the distance between Earth and stars and other galaxies), the light
year (ly) is used. A light year is the distance that light travels through space in one year, or 9.468 x 1012 km.
28.1
n the
in
tem.
EXAMPLES
1. Converting light years (ly) to kilometers (km)
Earth's closest star (Proxima Centauri) is about 4.22 light years away. How far is this in kilometers?
Explanation/Answer: Multiply…
Chapter 3 Solutions
Life in the Universe (4th Edition)
Ch. 3 - List three major ideas of astronomy that help...Ch. 3 - Briefly define and describe each of the various...Ch. 3 - Describe the solar system as it looks on the...Ch. 3 - Prob. 4RQCh. 3 - Prob. 5RQCh. 3 - Prob. 6RQCh. 3 - Prob. 7RQCh. 3 - What do we mean when we say that Earth and life...Ch. 3 - Imagine describing the cosmic calendar to a...Ch. 3 - Prob. 10RQ
Ch. 3 - Prob. 11RQCh. 3 - Prob. 12RQCh. 3 - What is the difference between matter in the...Ch. 3 - Define and give examples of kinetic energy,...Ch. 3 - Prob. 15RQCh. 3 - Prob. 16RQCh. 3 - Briefly describe the four major features of our...Ch. 3 - Briefly describe the nebular theory and how it...Ch. 3 - What was the close encounter hypothesis for our...Ch. 3 - How have recent discoveries led scientists to...Ch. 3 - Prob. 21TYUCh. 3 - At a middle school talent show, 14-year-old Sam...Ch. 3 - SETI researchers announced today that if they...Ch. 3 - A noted physicist today announced that he has...Ch. 3 - Prob. 25TYUCh. 3 - Astronomers have discovered a galaxy in the far...Ch. 3 - Inventor John Johnson has patented a device that...Ch. 3 - Prob. 28TYUCh. 3 - Prob. 29TYUCh. 3 - Using new, powerful telescopes, biologists today...Ch. 3 - Prob. 31TYUCh. 3 - Prob. 32TYUCh. 3 - A television advertisement claiming that a product...Ch. 3 - When we say the universe is expanding, we mean...Ch. 3 - Prob. 35TYUCh. 3 - The age of our solar system is about (a) one-third...Ch. 3 - Prob. 37TYUCh. 3 - How many of the planets orbit the Sun in the same...Ch. 3 - Prob. 39TYUCh. 3 - Prob. 40TYUCh. 3 - Explaining the Past. Is it really possible for...Ch. 3 - A Strange Star System. Suppose that we discovered...Ch. 3 - Prob. 44IFCh. 3 - Alien Technology. Some people believe that Earth...Ch. 3 - Atomic Terminology Practice. a. The most common...Ch. 3 - Prob. 49IFCh. 3 - Prob. 50IFCh. 3 - Patterns of Motion. In one or two paragraphs,...Ch. 3 - Two Kinds of Planets. The jovian planets differ...Ch. 3 - Pluto and Eris. How does the nebular theory...Ch. 3 - Rocks from Other Solar Systems. Many leftovers...Ch. 3 - Prob. 55IFCh. 3 - Prob. 56IFCh. 3 - Scale of the Solar System. The real diameters of...Ch. 3 - Prob. 58IFCh. 3 - Prob. 59IFCh. 3 - Prob. 60IFCh. 3 - Prob. 61IFCh. 3 - Prob. 62IFCh. 3 - Prob. 63IFCh. 3 - Prob. 67WPCh. 3 - Tour of the Solar System. Visit one of the many...
Knowledge Booster
Learn more about
Need a deep-dive on the concept behind this application? Look no further. Learn more about this topic, physics and related others by exploring similar questions and additional content below.Similar questions
- If the speed of light is 3.0 × 105 km/s, how many kilometers are in a light-year? How many meters? (Hint: First look up or calculate how many seconds are in a year.)arrow_forwardUsing the GUFSA Template. Round off your final answer to the nearest hundredths. As we already know, rockets travel at very high speeds. How much time will it take a rocket (in seconds) to reach the moon if the moon is 238,900 miles away from the Earth, and the rocket is travelling 1,800,000 centimeters per minute? (express your answer in meters per second)arrow_forwardHubble's First Attempt. Edwin Hubble's first attempt to measure the universe's expansion rate was flawed because the standard candles he was using were not properly calibrated. Look at (Figure 1) a.Estimate the value of Ho corresponding to the solid line in the figure. Express your answer kilometers per second per million light-years to two significant figures. b.What is the approximate age of the universe indicated by that erroneous value of Ho? Express your answer in years to one significant figure.arrow_forward
- According to modern science, Earth is about 4.5 billion years old and written human history extends back about 10,000 years. Suppose the entire history of Earth is represented with a 100-meter-long timeline, with the birth of Earth on one end and today at the other end. a. What distance represents 1 billion years? b. How far from the end of the timeline does written human history begin? a. 1 billion years is represented by meters of the timeline. (Type an integer or decimal rounded to the nearest tenth as needed.) millimeters from the end of the timeline. b. Written human history begins about (Type an integer or decimal rounded to the nearest hundredth as needed.)arrow_forward1. A distant galaxy has an apparent magnitude of 10 and is 4,000 kpc away. What is its absolute magnitude? (Round your answer to at least one decimal place.) The difference in absolute magnitude between two objects viewed from the same distance is related to their fluxes by the flux-magnitude relation. FA/FB= 2.51(MB − MA) 2. How does the absolute magnitude of this galaxy compare to the Milky Way (M = −21)?arrow_forwardSuppose we look at two distant galaxies: Galaxy 1 is twice as far away as Galaxy 2. In this case, A. Galaxy 1 must be twice as big as Galaxy 2. B. we are seeing Galaxy 1 as it looked at an earlier time in the history of the universe than Galaxy 2. C. we are seeing Galaxy 1 as it looked at a later time in the history of the universe than Galaxy 2. D. Galaxy 2 must be twice as old as Galaxy 1.arrow_forward
- Milestone A: Walk 3.2 km (~2 miles) towards northeast. Milestone B: Walk 1.3 km towards southeast. Milestone C: Walk 2.4 km directly south. Surprise at the end! You have arrived at the treasure! Distance: What is the total distance traveled if you walk the distance A, B, C? Give your answer in km and miles. 2. Direction: a. what is meant by “north east?” b. what direction would this be on a cartesian coordinate system? c. What is meant by “south east?” d. What direction would this be on a cartesian coordinate system? e. What about “south”? f. What direction on cartesian coordinate system? 3. Draw the diagram: include drawing the resultant a. What does the resultant vector represent? 4. Calculate: use trigonometry to find the displacement.arrow_forwardYour friends are talking about Olber's Paradox: Friend 1: When the universe was quite young, it was also quite small, and therefore light was trapped inside the universe. This is why we don't see light from the edge of the universe in every direction. Friend 2: No, Olber's Paradox describes only light from stars, not from galaxies, and why you can't use light from distant stars to see at night. Friend 3: You're both right and you're both wrong. The paradox concerns itself with the expansion of the universe, and explains why light from the early universe was able to be released. Are any of them right, in part or in whole?arrow_forwardWrite down the Doppler formula for light as an equation. Explain each letter's meaning. Then compute what the relative change in the wavelength of emitted light would be for a galaxy moving at a velocity 1099 kilometers per second away from the Milky Way galaxyarrow_forward
- Delay time for communication between GEO satellites and Earth. Use the relationship between distance (d), time (t) and speed (v), d = vt to repeat the calculation we did in class, but this time using the English units. Use the fact that GEO satellites orbit at 22,236 miles above Earth's equator, and that the speed of light is 1.86 x 105 mi/s. (Note that both of these values are equivalent to those used in class.) You may want to write this calculation on paper and insert a photo here.arrow_forwardYou record the spectrum of a distant star using a telescope on the ground on Earth. Upon analysing the spectrum, you discover absorption lines spaced at intervals typical of oxygen atoms. Which of the following are possible interpretations of this evidence? Select all that apply. The width of the spectral lines gives the diameter of the star The star is likely orbited by habitable planets with breathable atmospheres. The height of the spectral lines above the star's general blackbody spectral curve tells us how much oxygen is in the star The atmosphere of Earth contains oxygen The red or blueshift of the set of lines can tell us the speed of the star's motion toward or away from usarrow_forwardLet us imagine that the spectrum of a star is collected and we find the absorption line of Hydrogen-Alpha (the deepest absorption line of hydrogen in the visible part of the electromagnetic spectrum) to be observed at 656.5 nm instead of 656.3 nm as measured in a lab here on Earth. What is the velocity of this star in m/s? (Hint: speed of light is 3*10^8 m/s; leave the units off of your answer) Question 4 of 7 A Moving to another question will save this response. 1 6:59 & backsarrow_forward
arrow_back_ios
SEE MORE QUESTIONS
arrow_forward_ios
Recommended textbooks for you
Foundations of Astronomy (MindTap Course List)PhysicsISBN:9781337399920Author:Michael A. Seeds, Dana BackmanPublisher:Cengage Learning
Stars and Galaxies (MindTap Course List)PhysicsISBN:9781337399944Author:Michael A. SeedsPublisher:Cengage Learning
Foundations of Astronomy (MindTap Course List)
Physics
ISBN:9781337399920
Author:Michael A. Seeds, Dana Backman
Publisher:Cengage Learning
Stars and Galaxies (MindTap Course List)
Physics
ISBN:9781337399944
Author:Michael A. Seeds
Publisher:Cengage Learning