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    HW 1 Fall24 WillHill

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    William Hill

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    HW 1 Fall24 WillHill

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    William Hill
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    HW 1 Fall24 WillHill (1)

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    3 views5 pages

    HW 1 Fall24 WillHill

    Uploaded by

    William Hill

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    of 5

    PEP 151 Homework 1

    Problem 1.
    Explain If there’d still be seasons on Earth,
    a) (1 point) if Earth’s axis has no tilt and is perfectly perpendicular to the ecliptic plane.
    No, there would not be seasons the environments would be stagnate and temperature and
    whether would depend on latitude
    b) (1 point) if Earth’s axis is completely in the ecliptic plane.
    One side the side facing the sun would always be like summer and always day, while the
    other side facing away would be winter and always night.

    Problem 2.
    a) (2 points) Calculate what 1 light-minute is in meters. You have to start from the
    definition, distance travelled by light (in vacuum) in one minute and show all the steps. You’ll
    not get any point if you simply quote a result from the internet or other sources.
    C= 299,792,458 m/s
    Therefore, we would multiply this number by 60 because there are 60 seconds in a min

    (299,792,458 m/s)(60 s) = 1.79875E10 meters


    b) (2 points) The average distance between the Sun and Mars is 1.5AU = 2.24e8 km. Use
    your result in a) to calculate what the average distance between the Sun and Mars is in light-
    minute (and think about what it means in terms of the travel time of sunlight towards Mars.)
    1.5AU = 2.24e8 km
    (2.24E8 km)(1000) = 2.24E11 m
    Distance in light minutes = 𝐷𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑀𝑎𝑟𝑠(𝑚) ÷ 𝐷𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑖𝑛 1 𝑙𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑢𝑡𝑒(𝑚)
    Distance in light minutes = 2.24E11 m / 1.79875E10 m = 12.4531
    Therefore, the average distance between the sun and mars is 12.4531 light minutes
    This means it takes around 12 minutes for the suns light to reach mars.

    Problem 3 (2 points).
    a) If those little sugar cubes for coffee are made of materials from a neutron star whose
    average density is 5e17 kg/m3, what would the mass of such a cube be in kg? Assume the
    side of the cube is 1 cm.
    Density = Mass/Volume
    Volume of 1cm cube. 1cm to meters

    (1 cm)(0.01)= 0.01m Volume = (0.01m)^3. = 0.000001


    5E17 kg/m^3 = Mass/ 0.000001m^3

    Mass = (5E17 kg/m^3)(0.000001m^3) = 5E15 kg


    The mass of this cube would be 5E11 kg

    b) How many empire state buildings (3.3e8 kg) would that be?
    5E11kg/3.3E8 kg = 1 515.1515

    Therefore around 1,515 empire state buildings

    Problem 4 (5 points).
    With the help of the diagram above, answer the following for the location of Hoboken (latitude
    φ = 41 deg):

    a) What is the angle between the zenith and the north celestial pole?
    90 deg – 41 deg = 49 deg

    b) On the day of June solstice, when the sun is the highest in your local sky, what is the angle
    between the sun and the zenith?
    Zenith angle = (90 deg – 41 deg) – earths tilt (23.5 deg)

    49 deg – 23.5 deg = 25.5 deg


    The angle between the sun and zenith is 25.5 deg
    c) On the day of March equinox, when the sun is the highest in your local sky, what is the angle
    between the sun and the zenith?
    90 deg – 41 deg = 49 deg
    Problem 5 (2 points).

    a) What is so special about Polaris? Is it because it’s the brightest star in the sky? If your
    answer is no, then explain why else Polaris is special
    No, Polaris is not the brightest star in the sky, it is important because it is almost directly
    above earths north celestial pole. This means as earth rotates this star remains fixed in the
    night sky.

    b) Was our north pole pointed at Polaris 13000 years ago? If not, sketch out the
    orientation of the north pole relative to Polaris today and 13000 years ago.
    No, 13,000 years ago Vega in the constellation Lyra would have appeared to be the north star.
    Problem 6.

    Determine if each of the following statements is true and explain your reasoning.
    a) (1 point) At the equator, your horizon is parallel to the equator.
    True, because the celestial equator is directly overhead and splits the sky equally between
    north and southern hemisphere. The horizon at the equator lies in a plane that is
    perpendicular to the zenith. This means the horizon aligns with the celestial equator
    therefore making it parallel to the equator.
    b) (1 point) Within the arctic circle, the Sun stays above the horizon all year long.

    False, there are points in time where the Sun does stay above the horizon during the
    summer around summer solstice, but there are also times during the winter, around the
    winter solstice the sun does not rise above the horizon for several days.

    c) (1 point) If an object has a declination of 0 degree, it is near the north celestial pole.
    False, if an object has declination of 0 deg it will lie on the celestial equator, and not near
    the north celestial pole. The north celestial pole has a declination of +90 deg. Therefore, a
    declination of 0 degrees would be far away.

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