Intro to Astronomy Written Assignment 2

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Course code: AST-101-GS001

Course name: Introduction to Astronomy

This assignment has a series of questions that call for short essay answers. The questions are designed to help you determine your grasp of how astronomers use basic math skills in their work and how they measure astronomical distances. Please show all calculations for each problem that requires math. Type your written answers, using no more than one paragraph to complete each answer.

1.

A. Why would the English system of units be more useful if a foot contained 10 inches? Use a math example and write out a clear reason.

Answer: It would be easier because it simplifies computations. When finding where we are among the stars we magnify our field of view by 100. 10 makes it easier to write in scientific notation to show these large distances. So 380000 becomes 3.8 x 105. Page 3

B. Why are some distances measured in light-years and some in astronomical units? Include a definition of each of these distance measurements.

Answer: Some distances are too far to measure in Astronomical units (AU), the average distance from the Earth to the Sun, a distance of 1.5 x 108. Therefore scientist use light-years(ly), the distance light travels in one year, roughly 1013km or 63,000 AU. Page 4

C. Answer Review Questions 2 and 4 and Problems 2 and 4 on page 20 of the Seeds textbook. Include all computations for the problems.

Review Question 2. What is the difference between an asterism and a constellation? Give some examples.

Answer: Constellations are named groups of stars that celebrate the most important mythical creatures of ancient culture and any star in the region that contains them. Asterisms are named groups of stars that are not recognized as a constellation by itself. Some examples of a constellation are: Orion, Pegasus, and Sagittarius. Some examples of Asterisms are: The Big Dipper, The Little...