Due: 10 Feb, 2020

Astronomy: Homework 1:
Due during the class on 10th February

Give short, concise but clear answers, not exceeding a few lines. However, clearly state your
arguments and show your working.

1. Light Years: It takes light 54.5 years to reach a certain star A from earth. How many light
years away this star is from Earth?

2. Stellar Parallax: Recall the angle-distance formula. Suppose that a star changes its po-
sition on the celestial sphere by an angle of 0.03 arc seconds of a degree from January 1 to
July 1. What is the distance of this star from Earth?

3. Distance Angle Formula, Again: Suppose you are standing on the roof of a house. A
tree in the street is seen to be directly in front of a far away electric pole from the point
where you are standing. You step to the side, perpendicular to the direction of the tree, by
5 feet. Now the tree is seen not to be in front of the pole but rather separated by an angle
of 5 degrees. How far is the tree?

4. Local Sky: You live in Karachi. What is the altitude of Polaris (North star) in your local
sky in January ( i.e., how high up it is from the Horizon?)How does this change in June?

5. More Local Sky: Living in Karachi, you see a certain constellation to rise up to a maximum
altitude of 50o due north. What would be the maximum altitude of this same constellation
for someone living in a city with latitude of 45o N ?

6. Celestial Equator: Suppose you live in a city where you find Polaris to have an altitude of
35 degrees. Explain where would be the celestial equator in your sky. Star A is 15 degrees
north of the equator during its highest point while star B is 10 degrees south of equator
during its highest point. Which one of them stays above the horizon for a longer time?

7. Reason for Seasons: Explain how the seasons are created. Also explain why and in what
fashion does the day length change with seasons. Suppose if the Eclliptic was tilted at
40o from the celestial equator; would the seasons had been milder or more severe in that
hypothetical scenario?

1
Due: 10 Feb, 2020

8. Date of the year: Suppose you live in a city where you notice the polaris to have an
altitude of 55 degrees. During the day, you find the sun to rise to a maximum height of 45
degrees due south. What possible date of the year ( approximately) it is?

9. Summer and Winter: You live at an altitude of 400 N . What is the maximum height of
the sun during Summer and winter solstices?

10. Lumar Month: It is midday. You find that the moon is about to set. What date of lunar
calendar it is?

11. Solar Eclipse: There was a full solar eclipse in Pakistan on 10th of Ramadhan a few years
back. Do you know which year was it?

12. Uses of Scales: Malaysia Airline Flight 370 (MH370) was lost somewhere in Indian Ocean,
never to be found, despite a very thorough search. One might wonder how hard it really
is to find the Boeing plane which is of length 70m in Indian Ocean. To get an idea, scale
down the problem to a large sports field of 100m × 100m ( which can be easily visualized).
Assuming that the Indian ocean is almost a square, with dimensions of 8400km × 8400km,
what is the equivalent length of an object lost in the large sports field to be comparable to
the length of the lost Boeing as compared to the Indian ocean? Is it mysterious that the
plane was so hard to find?