Suppose the star Betelgeuse (the upper left shoulder of Orion) were to become a supernova tomorrow (as seen here on Earth). What would it look like to the naked eye?
A) We'd see a cloud of gas expanding away from the position where Betelgeuse used to be. Over a period of a few weeks, this cloud would fill our entire sky.
B) Because the supernova event destroys the star, Betelgeuse would suddenly disappear from view.
C) Betelgeuse would remain a dot of light but would suddenly become so bright that, for a few weeks, we'd be able to see this dot in the daytime.
D) Betelgeuse would suddenly appear to grow larger in size, soon reaching the size of the full moon. It would also be about as bright as the full moon.
C
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In _________fracture, the fracture surface follows the grain boundaries.
Fill in the blank(s) with the appropriate word(s).
If energy is released when the parts of a system are allowed to disperse to infinity, its binding energy is
A. Positive. B. Negative. C. Zero. D. Not defined in such a case.
When the Sun is a red giant, what will its approximate surface temperature be?
What will be an ideal response?
Which of the following statements about parallax is not true?
A) You can demonstrate parallax simply by holding up a finger and looking at it alternately from your left and right eyes. B) The existence of stellar parallax is direct proof that Earth orbits the Sun. C) Measurement of stellar parallax allows us to determine distances to nearby stars. D) Observing stellar parallax requires only a single photograph taken through a powerful telescope. E) Ancient astronomers were unable to detect stellar parallax and used the absence of observed parallax as an argument in favor of an Earth-centered universe.