A tomb has recently been unearthed in Egypt that shows a set of wall paintings a

Question

A tomb has recently been unearthed in Egypt that shows a set of wall paintings and hieroglyphics of stars falling to and rising above the horizon over the course of the year. (In Egyptian mythology, these stars served as sentinels for the pharaoh’s passage through the underworld.) How would astronomers use this data to date the tomb? What are the most common nearby stars and why are they not visible to the naked eye? How is chromatic aberration related to a prism spectrograph? If the sun has a temperature of 5800 K, of what colour is the peak of its light? If the temperature were doubled, where is the new peak of emission? What is the luminosity of the hotter sun relative to the original sun? Name three ways in which the models of Ptolemy and Copernicus are similar to each other. What direct observational evidence leads us to believe that the activity at the surface of the sun is due to magnetic fields rather than nuclear fusion?

Explanation / Answer

1. There is one term in astronomy called precession that denoting motion. Usually, by the word precession, we describe the forward motion of a group of moving objects.

The stars that are viewed from the earth has a procession from east to west due to earth's rotation and revolution. At the same time stars also has some motion.

So it seems the astronomers would use this precession of the equinoxes data to date the tomb.

2. The most common nearby stars are Proxima Centauri, Alpha Centauri A and Alpha Centauri B.

It is estimated that there are about 100 billion stars in our galaxy, but most of them are invisible with our naked eyes. The reason behind this is-

a. They are very far from us

b. They are small in size.

3. The term chromatic aberration results in the failure of focus.

The prism spectrograph is a device by which a prism generates two different but a simultaneous wavelength coming from a common source of light.

There is a common fact between chromatic aberration and prism spectrograph - the short-wavelength (violet) light bends maximum but the long-wavelength ( red) light bends minimum.

4. It can be said that if the sun has a temperature of 5800 K then its peak light should be yellow in color.

We know that hotter the blackbody the bluer will be its peak emission. As in the case of stars, the peak wavelength is inversely proportional to its surface temperature. That is why with 5800 K temperature the sun looks yellow in color.

Hope this will help you.

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