Foundations of Astronomy, Enhanced
13th Edition
ISBN: 9781305980686
Author: Michael A. Seeds; Dana Backman
Publisher: Cengage Learning US
expand_more
expand_more
format_list_bulleted
Concept explainers
Textbook Question
Chapter 26, Problem 9P
The first radio broadcast was made on January 13, 1910. It was a live performance at New York City’s Metropolitan Opera House. Since that time, how far has that radio broadcast traveled in light-years? In the solar neighborhood there is, on average, one star system per 400 cubic light-years. How many star systems could have heard those opera singers? (Note: The volume of a sphere =
Expert Solution & Answer
Want to see the full answer?
Check out a sample textbook solutionStudents have asked these similar questions
Our galaxy is approximately 100,000 light years in diameter and 2,000 light years thick through the plane of the galaxy. If we were to compare the ratio of the diameter galaxy and its thickness to the ratio of the diameter of a CD and its thickness (CD has a diameter of 12 cm and thickness of 0.6 mm), what would be the factor differentiating those ratios? Put differently, if the galaxy were scaled down to the diameter of a CD, how many times thicker or thinner would the galaxy be than the CD? (For example if it would be twice as thick, you would answer 2 and if it were twice as thin you would answer 0.5 (aka 1/2))
A mole contains 6.02 * 1023 particles (atoms, molecules, etc.). If you wanted to reach Alpha Centauri (4.367 light-years away) by creating a strand of carbon atoms (0.3 nm diameter), how many moles of carbon would you need? (Note: 1 light-year = 9.46 * 1012km)
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.
Chapter 26 Solutions
Foundations of Astronomy, Enhanced
Ch. 26 - Explain how astrobiology is a science and not a...Ch. 26 - Prob. 2RQCh. 26 - Prob. 3RQCh. 26 - How does the DNA molecule produce a copy of...Ch. 26 - What would happen to a life-form if the genetic...Ch. 26 - What would happen to a life-form if the genetic...Ch. 26 - What would happen to a life-form if the...Ch. 26 - Describe an example of natural selection acting on...Ch. 26 - Prob. 9RQCh. 26 - What evidence do scientists have that life on...
Ch. 26 - Prob. 11RQCh. 26 - Why is liquid water generally considered necessary...Ch. 26 - Prob. 13RQCh. 26 - What is the difference between chemical evolution...Ch. 26 - Prob. 15RQCh. 26 - Why was Earths early atmosphere able to support...Ch. 26 - Molecules of which gas were needed in Earths...Ch. 26 - Does intelligence make a creature more likely to...Ch. 26 - Prob. 19RQCh. 26 - Prob. 20RQCh. 26 - What is the evidence that the first organisms on...Ch. 26 - Name three locations in our Solar System to search...Ch. 26 - Why are upper-main-sequence (high-luminosity) host...Ch. 26 - Prob. 24RQCh. 26 - How does the stability of technological...Ch. 26 - Prob. 26RQCh. 26 - Prob. 27RQCh. 26 - Why are scientists confident Earth has never been...Ch. 26 - Why does the Drake equation implicitly assume the...Ch. 26 - Prob. 1DQCh. 26 - Prob. 2DQCh. 26 - Prob. 3DQCh. 26 - Prob. 4DQCh. 26 - Prob. 5DQCh. 26 - A single human cell encloses about 1.5 m of DNA....Ch. 26 - If you represent Earths history by a line that is...Ch. 26 - Consider Figure 25-8. What is the ratio of the...Ch. 26 - Suppose a human generation is defined as the...Ch. 26 - If a star must remain on the main sequence for at...Ch. 26 - Prob. 6PCh. 26 - If you detected radio signals with an average...Ch. 26 - Prob. 8PCh. 26 - The first radio broadcast was made on January 13,...Ch. 26 - Prob. 10PCh. 26 - Look at Figure 25-11. Since the time we sent the...Ch. 26 - The star cluster shown in this image contains a...Ch. 26 - If you could search for life in the galaxy shown...
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
- Recent findings in astrophysics suggest that the observable universe can be modeled as a sphere of radius R=13.7x109 light-years=13.0 x 1025m with an average total mass density of about 1x10-26 kg/m3 Only about 4% of total mass is due to “ordinary” matter (such as protons, neutrons, and electrons). Estimate how much ordinary matter (in kg) there is in the observable universe. (For the light-year, see Problem 19.)arrow_forwardRecall that Hubble’s Law is given by V=HR; this means that H has units of inverse seconds (1/sec). A convenient laboratory set of units is to give H in km per sec per megaparsec. A parsec is 3.26 light years and the speed of light is 3 X 105 km/sec. Use 3.156 X 107 sec/yr. The first data off the then new Hubble Space telescope suggested a value of H equal to 108 km per sec per megaparsec. What is H in inverse seconds? Hint divide by the number of km in a megaparsec.arrow_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)arrow_forward
- Let 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_forwardThe disk of the Milky Way galaxy contains roughly 200 billion (1 billion = 109 ) stars. The disk is not solid, but rather is a volume about 100,000 light-years in diameter (1 ly = 9500 billion kilometers) and 1000 light-years in thickness. What is the number density of stars in the Milky Way galaxy disk, in units of stars per cubic light-year? How about in units of stars per cubic km?arrow_forwardIf 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_forward
- The distance from the Sun to the nearest star is about 4 x 1016 m. The Milky Way galaxy (shown) is roughly a disk of diameter 1021 m and thickness ~ 1019 m. Find the order of magnitude of the number of stars in the Milky Way. Assume the distance between the Sun and our nearest neighbor is typical.arrow_forwardThe astronomer claims that the frequency, f, of a vibrating star depends on its radius R, density r and gravitational constant G. Use dimensional analysis to find this dependence, if f is measured in s-1 and the units of G are L3/(MT2).arrow_forwardSuppose that stars were born at random times over the last 1010 years. The rate of star formation is simply the number of stars divided by 1010 years. The fraction of stars with detected extrasolar planets is at least 10 %. The rate of star formation can be multiplied by this fraction to find the rate planet formation. How often (in years) does a planetary system form in our galaxy? Assume the Milky Way contains 9 × 1011 stars.arrow_forward
- A star is formed when the gravitational attraction overcomes the pressure due to the gases inside.Thus we can write(in-picture) .... Assuming the ideal gas equation, we can write P = nkT, where n is the number of atoms/volume. Let M and m denote the total mass and the mass of each gas atom. Using the above equation, show that the condition for star formation is that the mass of the star obeys M > MJ, where : (in-picture)arrow_forwardA light-year is the distance that light can travel in one year. Similarly, we can define a light-second, light-day, etc. as the distance that light can travel in other time intervals. Calculate the distance represented by each of the following: (Assume that the speed of light is 3 x 10^8m/s) 5 light-minutes 6 light-days 6 light-days, but this time answer in miles (enter just the number with no units)arrow_forwardThe Planck time is the unique interval of time that can be built out of G, c, and h. Some physicists think that time intervals shorter than the Planck time have no meaning. Using G = 6.7 x 10-11 kg-1 m3 s-2, c = 3 x 108 m s-1, and h = 6.6 x 10-34 kg m2 s-1, calculate the Planck time, in units of 10-43 s.arrow_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 LearningStars 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
General Relativity: The Curvature of Spacetime; Author: Professor Dave Explains;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7V3koyL7Mc;License: Standard YouTube License, CC-BY