29:52 Homework Set #5
Assigned:
Due:
Confused? Don’t go around miserable and despondent! Ask
for help and explanation from me or the teaching assistant (
1. If a small, self-gravitating object (i.e. one held together by its own gravity) came very close to the Earth, how close could it come without being torn apart by tides due to the Earth’s gravity? State the physical concept or principle you are using. I want a number in kilometers or miles, not a qualitative answer like “sort-of close”.
2. What
do you expect the rotation period of Titan to be? To answer this question, you need two things:
(a) application of a concept we have learned earlier in the semester, and (b)
use of data from the appendices in the textbook. Go for it!
3. Define the term cryovolcanism. Where in the solar system do we find evidence of it occurring, and why does it happen there?
4. Use some resource described or utilized in this course do find where Uranus is in the sky. What time of night would you go outside to find it? Describe how you found its position, or figured it out for yourself.
5. Let’s say that an asteroid has an orbit that takes it from the inner edge of the asteroid belt when it is closest to the Sun, to the outer edge of the belt when it is most distant. What would be the eccentricity of its orbit? Compare this eccentricity with those of the largest asteroids (Hint: appendices in the book). To answer this, you need to make some simple measurements from graphs in the book or the lecture notes.
6. You will probably have the opportunity to see a prominent naked eye comet in the next ten years (this would be one for which you could clearly see a long tail, and wouldn’t need a star chart to pick it out in the night sky). It will probably be a long period comet. Let’s say that, at aphelion, it is 20,000 astronomical units from the Sun. How long would you have to wait to see it a second time?
7. What would you expect the density of Sedna to be? Give a number for your answer, and explain the reason for your guess.
8. If you could get in a spaceship and go anywhere in the solar system to visit an object, what would you choose? Name the object (or place on the object), what we know about it, and describe why you find it of interest. Confine your answer to about half a page. Grammar and spelling will be taken into account in the grading.