For the sake of this problem, let us imagine that you are in the wilderness alon

Question

For the sake of this problem, let us imagine that you are in the wilderness alone in an observatory with a large telescope busy watching the night sky. While wondering if there could be other ways to spend an evening in solitude, you observe a bright flare like light in the sky! You watch the object with your telescope and observe that it does not seem to have a determinable motion - i.e. it is not moving like you would expect a projectile or a meteorite to move! Either it is stationary, or it is moving straight towards you!

You try to call your scientist friends, but your phone has no signal. You decide to access your "science" brain realizing that the object could be heading straight to you! It could even be a star about to blow-up into a supernova! You are a cautious person, so you take in to account all possibilities.

The question is:

1. How can you determine that the object is NOT a star?(4 points)

2. How can you determine that the object is in fact a really long lasting flare in the sky that the manufacturer is testing? (4 points)

[Hint: Earlier in the evening you had found a old dusty book on flares that mentioned the flares are made from various potassium containing chemicals]

Explanation / Answer

1) It's natural that our horizon, and hence the earth below it, is truly fixed, and therefore that the stars truly move around in huge circles once each day. real motion of a star is divided into radial motion and proper motion,A typical method to determine proper motion is to measure the position of a star relative to a limited, selected set of very distant objects that exhibit no mutual movement, and that, because of their distance, are assumed to have very small proper motion.Therefore we can say that it is not a star.

2) A flare is a type of pyrotechnic that produces a brilliant light or intense heat without an explosion. They're usually fired high in the air so they can be seen from much greater distances than handheld flares.Flares produce light through the combustion of a pyrotechnic composition. The ingredients are varied, but based on strontium nitrate, potassium nitrate, or potassium perchlorate and mixed with a fuel such as charcoal, sulfur, aluminium, or a suitable polymeric resin.Therefore we can say that it is a long lasting flare.

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