Question: Consider an alien trying to detect planets orbiting the Sun from 35 parsecs away. The alien is using a telescope that operates in the
Consider an alien trying to detect planets orbiting the Sun from 35 parsecs away. The alien is using a telescope that operates in the optical, using light with a wavelength of 650 nm, and is 20 m in diameter. Ignore the eccentricity of Jupiter's orbit for the purposes of this question, a. What is the angular separation of Jupiter and the Sun if the alien is observing at maximum apparent separation? Can the alien resolve them? b. calculate the fraction of the Sun's light that is reflected off the surface of Jupiter. By what factorlis Jupiter fainter than the Sun for that alien? You need to If the alien was trying to observe Jupiter transiting the Sun, how close to C. the plane of Jupiter's orbit would the alien have to be? That is, what is the maximum angular distance from Jupiter's orbital plane that would still allow the alen to see Jupiter fully transit the Sun? Hint: Think about how this would depend on the distance from the Sun to Jupiter.
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