USAAAO 2022, II кръг — Задача 4
2022 National Astronomy Competition · 10 т.
Instructions (Please Read Carefully)
The top 5 eligible scorers on the NAC will be invited to represent USA at the next IOAA. In order to qualify for the national team, you must be a high school student with US citizenship or permanent residency.
This exam consists of 3 parts: Short Questions, Medium Questions and Long Questions.
The maximum number of points is 200.
The test must be completed within 2.5 hours (150 minutes).
Please solve each problem on a blank piece of paper and mark the number of the problem at the top of the page. The contestant’s full name in capital letters should appear at the top of each solution page. If the contestant uses scratch papers, those should be labeled with the contestant’s name as well and marked as “scratch paper” at the top of the page. Scratch paper will not be graded. Partial credit will be available given that correct and legible work was displayed in the solution.
This is a written exam. Contestants can only use a scientific or graphing calculator for this exam. A table of physical constants will be provided. Discussing the problems with other people is strictly prohibited in any way until the end of the examination period on March 26th. Receiving any external help during the exam is strictly prohibited. This means that the only allowed items are: a calculator, the provided table of constants, a pencil (or pen), an eraser, blank sheets of papers, and the exam. No books or notes are allowed during the exam. Exam is proctored and recorded. You are expected to have your video on at all times.
Условие
Posidonious from the first century BC estimated the circumference of the Earth by observing the rising and setting of the star Canopus. We will retrace his calculations in this problem. He observed Canopus on but never above the horizon at Rhodes. On the other hand, Canopus rose to a maximum of about above the horizon at Alexandria. Assume Rhodes and Alexandria have the same longitude and the distance between the two cities is . Given only this information, estimate the radius of the Earth. How far off is it from the actual value of . Justify your answer.
Отговори
6111 km
The official solution adds: this is a difference of about 5 % from 6400 km.
Решение
Given the simplifying assumption that the two cities belong to the same longitude, the difference of in the maximum culmination altitude of Canopus, directly translates to a latitude difference between the two cities.
We then have, if is the distance between Rhodes and Alexandria,
Hence, we get . This is a difference of about .
Оригинал в Архива: usaaao_second_exam_2022_problems.pdf · официални решения: usaaao_second_exam_2022_solutions.pdf