USAAAO 2021, I кръг — Задача 30
USAAAO 2021 - First Round · 30 януари 2021 г.
PHYSICAL AND ASTRONOMICAL CONSTANTS
| c | Speed of light in vacuum | |
| e | Elementary charge | |
| m | Neutron rest mass | |
| m | Proton rest mass | |
| m | Electron rest mass | |
| m | Helium-4 rest mass | |
| h | Planck’s constant | |
| H | Hubble’s constant | 70 (km/s)/Mpc |
| k | Boltzmann’s constant | |
| b | Wien’s constant | |
| G | Gravitational constant | |
| Stefan-Boltzmann constant | ||
| c | First Radiation Constant | |
| c | Second Radiation Constant | |
| N | Avogadro constant | |
| R | Gas constant | |
| a | Bohr radius | |
| Bohr magneton | ||
| M | Solar mass | |
| R | Solar radius | |
| L | Solar luminosity | |
| T | Solar temperature | 5770 K |
| M | Earth mass | |
| R | Mean Earth radius | |
| I | Earth moment of Inertia | |
| R☾ | Mean Moon radius | |
| M♃ | Mean Jupiter mass | |
| R♃ | Mean Jupiter radius | |
| a♃ | Mean orbital radius of Jupiter | 5.2 AU |
| a☾ | Mean semimajor axis Moon orbit | |
| 1 light year | ||
| 1 AU | Astronomical Unit | |
| 1 pc | Parsec | |
| 1 year | ||
| 1 sidereal day | 86164 s | |
| 1 erg | ||
| 1 bar |
ENERGY CONVERSION : 1 joule (J) = electronvolts (eV)
Условие
Where and when should we place a radio telescope such that, when combined with a radio telescope on Earth, the system could ”see” the supermassive black hole in Sculptor’s Galaxy (NGC 253)?
Sculptor’s Galaxy’s supermassive black hole’s mass is estimated to be around , and its distance is estimated to be around 3.5 Mpc.
Out of the options below, pick the one closest to the estimate you obtain, rounding up. Consider the energy of a radio wave to be around eV.
Use the following formula to estimate the angular resolution:
(a) On the Moon when it is at its apogee.
(b) On Mars when it is in conjunction.
(c) On Venus when it is in its greatest elongation.
(d) On one of Jupiter’s moons when it is in opposition.
(e) Somewhere in the farthest points of the Oort cloud when Earth is at its perihelion.
Отговори
- D
Решение
We know the telescope resolution formula, so let us isolate D:
Now, let’s find
Where R is the radius of the supermassive black hole and d is its distance to the Sun.
Using the Schwarzchild Radius, we can find the black hole’s radius:
Now let us use the energy given to find :
Now, substituting what we obtained in the resolution formula, we get:
Hence, substituting values in, we get:
Analyzing each item:
The Moon is not even 1 A.U. from Earth, so (a) is not the answer.
Mars at its conjunction would be close at around 2.5 A.U., but it would not be enough. Hence, it cannot be (b).
Venus’s semi-major axis (which we can treat as a radius for the purposes of this estimation) is of less than 1 A.U.. Hence, by the triangle inequality, at any point in its orbit, its distance to Earth is less than 2 A.U., which includes its greatest elongation. Thus, it cannot be (c).
Jupiter’s semi-major axis (which we can treat as a radius for the purposes of this estimation) is of around 5.2 A.U.. At its opposition, its distance to Earth would be of around 4 A.U., which is a bit larger than our estimation (which is good! We want to be safe that we can resolve the black hole!). Of course, the telescope would not actually be on Jupiter, as it is a gas planet, but instead on one of its moons. Answer (d) seems the most likely so far.
The farthest points in the Oort cloud are at around 50000 A.U. from Earth, so it cannot be (e) when we have (d) as a choice.
Finally, we can say that a radio telescope placed on one of Jupiter’s Moons would be the best choice, i.e., the answer is (d).
Answer: D
Оригинал в Архива: usaaao2021_exam1.pdf · официални решения: usaaao2021_exam1_solutions.pdf