Astronomy
1st Edition
ISBN: 9781938168284
Author: Andrew Fraknoi; David Morrison; Sidney C. Wolff
Publisher: OpenStax
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Chapter 2, Problem 25E
Show with a simple diagram how the lower parts of a ship disappear first as it sails away from you on a spherical Earth. Use the same diagram to show why lookouts on old sailing ships could see farther from the masthead than from the deck. Would there be any advantage to posting lookouts on the mast if Earth were flat? (Note that these nautical arguments for a spherical Earth were quite familiar to Columbus and other mariners of his time.)
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The angle between two lines drawn from a point on Earth to two opposite sides of the Moon make an angle of 0.5 degrees.
If you do the same thing for the two opposite ends of Andromeda (as shown above), you find an angle of 5 degrees.
Let's assume Andromeda and the Moon are equally far away from our location on Earth (of course that's wrong, but how are we supposed to know?) -
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Pick the answer that's closest to what you get under this hypothetical assumption:
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Chapter 2 Solutions
Astronomy
Ch. 2 - From where on Earth could you observe all of the...Ch. 2 - Give four ways to demonstrate that Earth is...Ch. 2 - Explain, according to both geocentric and...Ch. 2 - In what ways did the work of Copernicus and...Ch. 2 - What were four of Galileo’s discoveries that were...Ch. 2 - Explain the origin of the magnitude designation...Ch. 2 - Ursa Minor contains the pole star, Polaris, and...Ch. 2 - How many degrees does the Sun move per day...Ch. 2 - How many degrees does the Moon move per day...Ch. 2 - Explain how the zodiacal constellations are...
Ch. 2 - The Sun was once thought to be a planet. Explain...Ch. 2 - Is the ecliptic the same thing as the celestial...Ch. 2 - What is an asterism? Can you name an example?Ch. 2 - Why did Pythagoras believe that Earth should be...Ch. 2 - How did Aristotle deduce that the Sun is farther...Ch. 2 - What are two ways in which Aristotle deduced that...Ch. 2 - How did Hipparchus discover the wobble of Earth’s...Ch. 2 - Why did Ptolemy have to introduce multiple circles...Ch. 2 - Why did Copernicus want to develop a completely...Ch. 2 - What two factors made it difficult, at first, for...Ch. 2 - What phases would Venus show if the geocentric...Ch. 2 - Describe a practical way to determine in which...Ch. 2 - What is a constellation as astronomers define it...Ch. 2 - Draw a picture that explains why Venus goes...Ch. 2 - Show with a simple diagram how the lower parts of...Ch. 2 - Parallaxes of stars were not observed by ancient...Ch. 2 - Why do you think so many people still believe in...Ch. 2 - Consider three cosmological perspectives-the...Ch. 2 - The north celestial pole appears at an altitude...Ch. 2 - What were two arguments or lines of evidence in...Ch. 2 - Although the Copernican system was largely correct...Ch. 2 - During a retrograde loop of Mars, would you expect...Ch. 2 - The Great Pyramid of Giza was constructed nearly...Ch. 2 - Explain why more stars are circumpolar for...Ch. 2 - What is the altitude of the north celestial pole...Ch. 2 - If you were to drive to some city south of your...Ch. 2 - Hipparchus could have warned us that the dates...Ch. 2 - Explain three lines of evidence that argue against...Ch. 2 - What did Galileo discover about the planet Jupiter...Ch. 2 - What did Galileo discover about Venus that cast...Ch. 2 - Suppose Eratosthenes had found that, in...Ch. 2 - Suppose Eratosthenes’ results for Earth’s...Ch. 2 - Suppose you are on a strange planet and observe,...
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