Science Olympiad

UT Invitational
October 26, 2024

Astronomy C Walkthrough

In this walkthrough, we will go over Sections B (JS9), C (Deep-Sky Objects), and D (Astrophysics).
References to various sources (e.g. online material and textbooks) are included to guide the reader towards
resources to learn the concepts more in depth. We hope readers find it useful.

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Astronomy C Walkthrough UT 2024

Section A: General Knowledge

This section consists of multiple choice questions about general astronomy concepts. Each
question is worth 2 points, for a total of 60 points.

For the first five (5) questions, consider the H-R

Diagram in Image 1.
1. The Sun is located at which point? D

2. Towards which point will the Sun evolve to af-

ter it leaves the main sequence? C

3. A star whose energy source is solely gravita-

tional contraction would be at which point? E

4. A red giant would be at which point? C

5. A star at the center of a planetary nebula would

be located at which point? F

10. What is typically responsible for periodic dips

6. What type of scale is typically used for the axes in the brightness of the light curve shown?
of the H-R diagram?
A. Sunspots
A. Linear
B. Intrinsic opacity fluctuations
B. Quadratic
C. Planet orbiting the star
C. Semi-logarithmic
D. Interstellar gas cloud
D. Logarithmic

7. Which spectral class of stars has the highest 11. What feature distinguishes a brown dwarf from
surface temperature? a true star?

A. K A. Brown dwarfs emit strong X-rays

B. M B. Brown dwarfs are always cooler than
C. G M-type stars
D. O C. Brown dwarfs form from planetary
nebulae
8. What is the characteristic feature of an H II
region in terms of its spectral lines? D. Brown dwarfs cannot fuse hy-
drogen in their cores
A. Continuum emission without lines
B. Emission lines from ionized hy- 12. What spectral feature is commonly associated
drogen with molecular clouds?
C. Strong absorption lines A. Rotational transitions of mole-
D. Emission of neutral hydrogen cules like CO

9. What does a negative B-V color index signify B. X-ray emission

about a star’s temperature? C. Hα emission lines
A. The star has an average temperature D. Strong UV absorption
B. The star is relatively hot
C. The star is pulsating
D. The star is relatively cool

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Astronomy C Walkthrough UT 2024

13. What type of star is the above image a light

curve of?
A. Cepheid
B. Herbig Ae/Be 17. What type of star is most likely to produce the
C. RV Tauri spectrum shown above?

D. T Tauri A. O
B. K
14. Which phenomenon is associated with Herbig-
Haro objects? C. G

A. Outflows from young stars D. A

B. Spiral arm formation in galaxies 18. What is the primary reason that Herbig Ae/Be
C. Supernova remnants stars exhibit strong emission lines in their spec-
tra?
D. Accretion onto a black hole
A. Accretion of material from sur-
15. What is the primary difference between Herbig rounding gas disks
Ae/Be stars and T Tauri stars?
B. High-energy flares from magnetic
A. T Tauri stars lack circumstellar disks fields
B. T Tauri stars are older C. Large-scale winds from their outer
C. Herbig Ae/Be stars have strong mag- envelopes
netic fields D. Shock waves from stellar pulsations
D. Herbig Ae/Be stars are more
19. Why does the radius of a brown dwarf decrease
massive
as its mass increases beyond a certain point?
16. Which type of star would produce a spectral en- A. Cooling from radiative losses as mass
ergy distribution curve with the shortest peak increases
wavelength?
B. Increased radiative pressure from nu-
A. A blue giant clear burning
B. A red dwarf C. Onset of electron degeneracy
C. A solar-mass main sequence star pressure
D. A red giant D. Collapse of the brown dwarf into a
neutron star

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20. Why do sub-Neptune planets often have thick 23. How does the amplitude of the radial velocity
atmospheres despite their smaller sizes com- signal depend on the orbital inclination of the
pared to Jupiter? planet relative to our line of sight? Note that an
A. Their cores are heated by tidal forces inclination of 0 is face-on and 90 is edge-on.
from nearby stars A. It increases to a maximum value as
B. Their lower masses allow them to re- the inclination approaches 0
tain hydrogen-rich atmospheres more B. It increases to infinity as the inclina-
easily tion approaches 0
C. Their formation in cooler re- C. It increases to a maximum value
gions of protoplanetary disks fa- as the inclination approaches 90
cilitates gas accretion D. It increases to infinity as the inclina-
D. Their atmospheres are maintained by tion approaches 90
strong magnetic fields
24. What type of star would make detecting an
21. Why are hot Jupiters more easily detectable via Earth-sized planet using the radial velocity
radial velocity than Earth-like planets? method most difficult?
A. They are located at greater distances A. A moderately sized G-type star
from their stars B. A large, massive O-type star
B. They have higher temperatures, mak- C. A low-mass K-dwarf star
ing them more luminous
D. A small, dim M-dwarf star
C. They induce stronger gravita-
tional forces on their host stars 25. How would a planet’s atmospheric composition
influence the depth of its transit as observed
D. They have larger radii and shorter or-
from Earth?
bital periods
A. Planets with hazy or high-
22. What is the primary reason that super-Earths opacity atmospheres show
and sub-Neptunes are difficult to distinguish us- deeper transits at infrared wave-
ing only the transit method? lengths
A. Both types of planets produce B. Planets with thick atmospheres
similar transit depths would have shallower transits due
B. Their masses are too small to create to scattering effects
significant radial velocity signals C. A planet with a thick atmosphere rich
C. Their atmospheric compositions are in hydrogen would have deeper tran-
indistinguishable sits at optical wavelengths
D. The orbital periods of these planets D. A planet’s transit depth is unaffected
overlap significantly by its atmospheric composition

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26. Many hot gas giants have belts of wind around 29. A molecular cloud is found within a large
their equator which distribute heat from the galaxy, and the local velocity dispersion within
warm dayside to the cool nightside of the the cloud is measured to be 10 km/s. How
planet. This process is most aptly characterized might the galaxy affect the collapse of the
by what fundamental mode of heat transfer? clouds and the formation of stars?
A. Conduction A. Tidal forces stretch the clouds, de-
B. Convection creasing the Jeans mass and promot-
ing low-mass star formation
C. Radiation
B. The external gravitational po-
D. Advection
tential increases the velocity dis-
27. Image 2 shows a cluster of population I stars. persion, leading to a higher
Which of the following is true? Jeans mass and fewer low-mass
stars forming
A. It is a globular cluster and has a low
rate of star formation. C. The external gravitational potential
enhances collapse by compressing the
B. It is a globular cluster and has a high
cloud, leading to rapid star formation
rate of star formation.
D. Tidal forces from the galaxy cluster
C. It is an open cluster and has a low
prevent cloud collapse, lowering the
rate of star formation.
Jeans mass and inhibiting star forma-
D. It is an open cluster and has a tion
high rate of star formation.
30. A planetary system forms around a Herbig
28. In a globular cluster with a half-mass radius of Ae star, and observations show that the sys-
10 pc, stars are interacting via gravitational en- tem contains both a sub-Neptune and a super-
counters. What happens to the central density Earth. How would the planet migration pat-
and velocity dispersion of the stars if the cluster terns and disk clearing timescales differ between
undergoes core collapse? these planets?
A. The central density remains constant, A. The super-Earth migrates more
but velocity dispersion decreases slowly due to Type I migra-
B. The central density increases and ve- tion, while the sub-Neptune ex-
locity dispersion decreases periences Type II migration and
C. The central density increases clears a gap
and velocity dispersion increases B. Both planets undergo rapid Type
D. The central density decreases and ve- II migration, but the sub-Neptune
locity dispersion decreases clears a gap faster than the super-
Earth
C. The sub-Neptune migrates more
rapidly due to its higher mass, while
the super-Earth clears a gap more
quickly
D. The sub-Neptune undergoes slower
Type II migration, while the super-
Earth migrates rapidly due to lower
mass

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Section B: JS9
This section consists of a lab using the JS9 imaging software. Points are shown for each
question, for a total of 18 points.
Setup Instructions

• Go to chandra.cfa.harvard.edu/js9

• Select the button on the right with the text [The Unofficial Chandra Archive Search Page].
A pop-up should appear.

• In the [Object Name] box, enter “DS Tucanae” and select [Search].

1. [1 pt] How many results appear?

In the table of observations (you may need to scroll down in the pop-up window), find the row with ObsID
25103 and the column labeled Title. To load the data, drag and drop the link there onto the JS9 window.
To adequately see the object, make sure that [Scale > log] is selected; you may also need to adjust
the contrast and bias by holding down left click in the JS9 window and moving up/down and left/right,
respectively.
At this point, you should be able to see the visual binary star. This is an image of DS Tucanae, a binary
star system with a confirmed exoplanet!

2. [2 pts] What date did the observation start?

3. [2 pts] What instrument was used to create this image?

4. [3 pts] What is the angular separation between the two stars in arcseconds?

5. [3 pts] If DS Tucanae is 44.1 parsecs away from Earth, compute its separation in au. Show your work!

Set two circular regions and move one to encompass the primary and the other to encompass the secondary.
It will be used for the next two questions.

6. [4 pts] On each star, run a light curve with [Analysis > Light Curve]. (Be sure to use the light curve
routine listed under “Server-side Analysis”.) Briefly (1-2 sentences) describe the results.

7. [3 pts] For each star, is there a noticeable change in their brightness, and if so, by what percent does it
change? (Round to the nearest 10 %.)

Solution: You can find a video walkthrough of the JS9 lab here!
There are a ton of great material available for you to get comfortable with JS9. The main JS9 site has
guided tutorials and past JS9 labs along with their solutions. Another useful resource is the community-
made Scioly.org wiki page for JS9.
As mentioned in the walkthrough, question 5 uses the relationship between angular size, linear size, and
distance. You can find a short introduction to how astronomers use angular size here.

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Section C: Deep-Sky Objects

This section consists of short free-response questions about this year’s deep-sky objects. Points
are shown for each sub-question, for a total of 55 points.

1. The cover image shows a composite image of a region of star formation.

(a) [1.5 pts] What is the name of this object?
(b) [2 pts] This composite image displays two different wavelengths. Identify them.
(c) [2 pts] Which telescope collected the longer wavelength data?
(d) [2 pts] What types of objects, typically shrouded in dust, are revealed when observing in this
wavelength?

Solution:
(a) 30 Doradus or Tarantula Nebula. This year, there are only two objects not related to exoplanets—
the other one being the Orion Nebula. Be sure to get familiar with the rough structure/shape of
the two nebulas, so even if you don’t have the particular image saved, you would be able to make
an educated guess.

(b) This image is from NASA and is a composite of X-ray, by the Chandra X-ray Observatory, and
infrared, by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).
(Rabbit Hole: A large percentage of images you will encounter in Astronomy point back to NASA’s
Great Observatories, particularly of “classical” objects that have been well studied for decades. It’s
a fun deep dive to learn about the telescopes of the past, observatories active today, and up and
coming ones.)

(c) JWST images in infrared, which has a longer wavelength than X-ray, which the Chandra telescope
collects. Everything we know about the stars comes from the light we receive from them, so
understanding the electromagnetic spectrum is critical, and leads us to multiwavelength astronomy!

(d) Protostars. An important stage of stellar formation where the star is still gaining (accreting) mass
from the dust and gas around it and its core isn’t hot enough to sustain fusion. The dust that
surrounds all newly forming stars limits our ability to observe them; dust absorbs light across the
entire electromagnetic spectrum, particularly high-energy wavelength, and re-emit it as infrared
light. So, JWST is able see this light to reveal the protostars.
(Rabbit Hole: Learn more about dust and infrared astronomy here: basic, intermediate, and ad-
vanced.1 )

1 Resources credited to the 2019 MIT Astronomy Walkthrough by Dhruva Karkada.

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2. Located in Virgo, this stellar remnant was found to have a planetary system.
(a) [1.5 pts] Name this object.
(b) [2 pts] What type of object is it?
(c) [2 pts] How many planet(s) have been discovered in this system?
(d) [3 pts] Briefly (1-2 sentences) describe how the planets were discovered: (i) what type of data was
collected, (ii) what telescope collected it, and (iii) how the planets affected the data.

Solution:
(a) Similar to the previous problem, there are only two objects that have a stellar remnant: PSR
B1257+12 and WD 1856+534. In this case, our object is PSR B1257+12, as the latter is located
in the constellation Draco.
(Rabbit Hole: Though the focus this year is not on stellar remnants, they are still a key phase of
the stellar life cycle. Here are some resources introducing stellar remnants: basic and intermediate.)

(b) A (millisecond) pulsar! An introduction to pulsars—how they were discovered and what they
are—can be found here and here.

(c) There are three confirmed planets.

(d) The Arecibo telescope measured the time of arrivals (TOAs) of the pulses from the pulsar. The
gravitational perturbations by its orbiting planets resulted in the TOA to vary sinusoidally.
There aren’t many articles that introduce this object, but as with any object, Wikipedia is always
a good place to start. From there, we recommend looking through the references for any useful
sources of more information. Enterprising competitors can read the paper announcing its discovery,
Wolszczan, A. (1994), which is available for free through the WaybackMachine.

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3. Image 3 is a plot of exoplanet related data.

(a) [2 pts] What exoplanet detection method is shown by the plot?
(b) [3 pts] Do you expect this exoplanet to have a circular or elliptical orbit? Explain your answer.
(c) [2 pts] To three significant figures, what is the eccentricity of the exoplanet’s orbit?

Solution:
(a) Radial-velocity or doppler spectroscopy. Primers on the radial-velocity method can be found here
and here.
The topmost plot (a) shows a radial-velocity (RV) curve, which can be inferred from the y-axis
units km s
1 and the x-axis units HJD (Heliocentric Julian Day) representing time in days.
(Rabbit Hole: What is time and how do astronomers ensure their measurements line up? It’s more
tricky than you’d expect! Do you look at the motion of the stars? Motion of the Sun? Astronomers
have come up with a few different methods.)
The other two plots are derived from plot (a). Plot (b) is an observed-minus-calculated (O–C) plot
showing the difference between the measured radial velocities (stars and boxes) and the fitted curve
(solid line). (You may also see it called the fit error or the “residuals”.) This plot is often included
to highlight the accuracy of the fitted curve.
Plot (c) is a phase folded light curve, which “folds” points onto each other based on a defined
period. This brings all of the measured data onto a single period of the velocity curve to further
highlight the accuracy of the derived period. Finally, this plot also has a horizontal dotted line at
the average radial velocity, or the systemic velocity, which is the velocity at which the system is
moving with respect to our line of sight. In this case it is moving away from us at a rate of around
3.8 km s
1 .

(b) It’s in an elliptical orbit. If it was in a circular orbit, it would exhibit a sinusoidal radial-velocity
curve, which is not the case.
To build intuition, play around with this radial-velocity simulator from the astronomy folk at UNL!
Test out different eccentricities and inclinations. What does the curve look like when you set the
eccentricity to 0? To 0.5? How does the inclination affect the curve?

(c) Based on how extreme the curve looks—compared to “standard” sinusoidal one—we can assume
the eccentricity is relatively high; however, it is impractical, and pretty much impossible, to find
the eccentricity from the curve itself. We expected you to lean on the information you collect on the
DSOs and notice that HD 80606b is well known for being in a highly eccentric orbit. And indeed,
this is a plot of HD 80606b which has an eccentricity of 0.923 to 0.934.

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4. Images 4 and 5 show the temperature maps of WASP-121b, using a Mollweide projection, at pressures
5  103 Pa and 105 Pa, respectively.
(a) [2 pts] Which image corresponds to a temperature map at a higher altitude? Explain your answer.
(b) [2 pts] The temperature maps, particularly Image 5, suggest the existence of what type of phe-
nomenon?
(c) [3 pts] Considering your answer to part (a), explain why the patterns in the temperature maps
differ.

Solution:
(a) Image 4 because pressure decreases with altitude and it is at a lower pressure. Many teams gave
the right answer, but gave the wrong justification: “the temperatures in Image 4 are hotter, so it is
higher up.” This is not always true! Typically, the temperature in an atmosphere actually decreases
as we move up in atmosphere. One reason for this is because the incident stellar energy (from the
Sun or a host star) passes through the atmosphere and is absorbed by the Earth’s or the planet’s
surface, heating it up. This heat is then transferred through the air by conduction, a slow process.
Another reason is that, since pressure decreases as you move up, the air must expand and do work
against its surrounding, which decreases its internal energy and therefore its temperature as well.
(Recall the ideal gas law, piv-nert!)
In reality, there are instances where temperature does go up as you go up in altitude, called thermal
inversions. The stratosphere here on Earth is an example of one.

(b) The patterns of flows and eddies in the temperature maps indicate weather patterns with storms
and fronts.

(c) Comparing the temperature maps, we can visually see that the weather patterns are less prominent
in Image 4. Specifically, the center of the temperature map corresponds to the point on the planet’s
surface pointing directly towards its star (known as the substellar point) explaining why the two
quadrants in the center (dayside) are much hotter than the quadrants on the sides (nightside).
This is due to the high stellar irradiation coupled with the short thermal timescale at that high
altitude. (WASP-121b is also tidally locked which further contributes to the dayside–nightside
thermal gradient.)
This question is heavily inspired by this ESA Hubble article and the associated paper.

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5. LTT 9779b is an exoplanet discovered in 2020.

(a) [3 pts] If the Moon orbits Earth at a distance of 3.85  108 m, how many times further does LTT
9779b orbit from its host star? Give your answer to the nearest whole number.
(b) [2 pts] Image 6 shows all currently confirmed exoplanets and their method of discovery plotted
against mass, radius, and orbital period. Why did the authors only include the “doppler” exoplanets
in the upper plot?
(c) [2 pts] The same image shows LTT 9779b sitting in a region devoid of other exoplanets. What is
this region known as?
(d) [3 pts] What is the prevailing theory for the lack of exoplanets in this region?

Solution:
(a) This question is a quick knowledge check with a calculation mixed in. Using the orbital radius from
NASA’s exoplanet database entry for LTT 9779b, we convert units and get

1.496  1011 m
0.016 79 au 
1 au
 3.85 1108 m  6.52 .

Rounding either up or down gives us 6 or 7.

LTT 9779b is super close to its host star! If the Sun was this close, it would have an angular
diameter of 30 .
(Aside: It’s a good idea to keep a document of common units and their conversions, particularly
lengths—astronomical units, parsecs, and light-years—and masses—Solar, Earth, and Jupiter.)

(b) The upper plot shows the location of exoplanets on a period-mass plot whereas the lower plot
shows them on a period-radius plot. By itself, doppler (spectroscopy) can’t determine the radius of
exoplanets, so it wouldn’t make sense for the authors to include them in the lower one—since they
don’t have the data!

(c) This region is known as the (hot) Neptune desert.

(d) If an exoplanet is located close to their host star, they’re subject to intense stellar radiation which
over time will heat up the planet’s atmosphere causing it to slowly leak out. This means that either
the atmosphere will be completed eroded, leaving behind a rocky core or the exoplanet is large
enough to hold onto its atmosphere (à la a hot Jupiter).
Learn more about Neptunian exoplanets and other planet types.

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6. WASP-17b was the first exoplanet discovered to have a retrograde orbit.

(a) [3 pts] This discovery was surprising because it was not predicted by planetary formation theory.
Briefly (1-2 sentences) explain why astronomers expect planets to orbit in the same direction and
their star’s spin.
(b) [3 pts] The sky-projected angle between the rotation axis of WASP-17 and the orbital axis of
WASP-17b was measured to be around 150 . Draw a diagram showing this angle. Clearly denote
the rotation and orbital axes by following the right-hand rule.
(Hint: Draw the orbit of the exoplanet edge-on.)
(c) [2 pts] What phenomenon was used to find this angle?

Solution:
(a) Young stars possess protoplanetary disks, both of which spin in the same direction. Since planets
form from protoplanetary disks, from conservation of angular momentum, we’d expect planets to
spin in the same direction as well.
Here are some resources about planetary formation: basic, intermediate, and advanced2 .

(b) This question is an exercise in visualizing the dynamics of a planetary system and communicating
this through a diagram. The diagram should clearly mark out the orbital motion of WASP-17b and
the rotation of WASP-17. Make sure to follow the right-hand rule when drawing rotation axes!

(c) Rossiter–McLaughlin effect.

This is a more advanced exoplanet topic; feel free to read more about it here.

2 Ch. 15 of Fundamental Planetary Science (2019) by Jack J. Lissauer

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7. Almost all of the objects in this year’s deep-sky object list are related to exoplanets.
one of the following conditions:
(a) [3 pts] Identify the objects that satisfy at least one
• If the object is an exoplanet, it was first detected by transit.
• If the object is a host star, at least one of its planets was first detected by transit.
You may instead identify the complement
complement:
complement all objects not
not satisfying any
any of the conditions. If you
do so, start your answer with “NOT: ”.
(b) [2 pts] From the objects not
not satisfying any
any of the conditions, find the median distance in parsecs.
(Hint: There are an odd number of these objects.)
(c) [2 pts] Image 7 displays what exoplanet detection method?

Solution:
(a) HD 80606, WASP-17b, WASP-121b, LTT 9779b, GJ 1214 b, K2-18b, TOI-270d, LHS 3844b, WD
1856+534, Kepler-62, AU Microscopii (or NOT: Orion Nebula, 30 Doradus, PSR B1257+12, 55
Cancri, Epsilon Eridani)
This is another knowledge check question. It’s important to collect basic facts about all of the
objects: what type of object it is; if it’s an exoplanet, what detection method was used in its
discovery; how far it away it is; how old it is; what constellation it is in; etc. Putting all this
information into a summary document or a spreadsheet will speed things up during the exam!

(b) Out of the five objects, Orion Nebula is located 412 pc away.

(c) Direct imaging.

This video introduces this exoplanet detection method. This slide deck (PDF, PPT) goes into more
depth by setting up other considerations with direct imaging.

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Section D: Astrophysics
This section consists of calculations and a few derivations. Points are shown for each sub-
question, for a total of 37 points. Numerical answers must be provided to 33 significant
significant figures
figures.
figures
Please show
Please show your
your work
work no work, no
work: no points
points Partial credit may be awarded for correct work.
points.

1. A Sumerian King. You have been studying the main sequence star Gilgamesh, which you have
determined is 2.5 parsecs away.
(a) [3 pts] If you are observing Gilgamesh’s motion for a 1-year period, what is its maximum angular
displacement in the sky?
(b) [3 pts] If Gilgamesh has an apparent bolometric magnitude of 2.5, what is its absolute magnitude?
(c) [3 pts] What is the luminosity of Gilgamesh in solar luminosities?
(d) [3 pts] If Gilgamesh has a radius of 0.76 solar radii, what is its effective temperature in Kelvin?
(If you were unable to answer part (c), you may substitute it with a value of 0.7 L@ .)
(e) [3 pts] The black-body radiation curve emitted by Gilgamesh peaks at what wavelength in nm?
(If you were unable to answer part (d), you may substitute it with a value of 4160 K.)
(f) [4 pts] You discover that Gilgamesh has an exoplanet, Enkidu! If Enkidu has an albedo of 0.4 and
is orbiting at a distance of 1.4 au, what is the effective surface temperature of Enkidu in Kelvin? Is
it in the habitable zone? (You may substitute the effective temperature of Gilgamesh with 4160 K.)

Solution:
(a) This question tests your understanding of parallax. Parallax is defined by the angle subtended over
a baseline of 1 au. But since we are observing Gilgamesh over the course of an entire year, the Earth
will have a maximum separation of 2 au. So we need to double the angle from the usual parallax
equation.
1 1
p 
d 2.5 pc
 0.42 ùñ 2p  0.82
where p is the parallax angle and d is the distance.
Partial credit of 1 point was given for 0.42 .

(b) Solve for M in the distance modulus equation to find

 
2.5 pc
2.5
M  5 log10 ùñ M  5.51.
10 pc

See §5.3 of A Student’s Guide to the Mathematics of Astronomy (2013) written by Daniel Fleisch
and Julia Kregenow (hereafter referred to as GMA).

(c) To find the luminosity of Gilgamesh, we need to convert absolute magnitude into luminosity. This
can be done by understanding magnitude represents a ratio of luminosity (or brightness) where 5
magnitude steps correspond to 100 times luminosity (or brightness) (§5.3 in GMA describes this in
more detail).
The luminosity–magnitude relation is
 
M
M@ 
2.5 log10 L
L@
,

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where L@ represents 1 solar luminosity and M@ is the absolute magnitude of the Sun. In this
case, since we are looking at the bolometric magnitude of Gilgamesh, we should use the bolometric
magnitude of the Sun, which is 4.74. Teams that used the visual absolute magnitude MV  4.83
were not penalized.
Plugging in and solving, we find
 
5.51
4.74 
2.5 log10 ùñ L  0.492 L@ .
L
L@

(d) For this question, we’ll use the Stefan–Boltzmann law (§3.2.2 in GMA) relating luminosity, radius,
and (surface) temperature:
 2 4
L
L@
 R
R@
T
T@
,

where R@ represents 1 solar radius and T@  5772 K represents the surface temperature of the sun.
Plugging in the values we know, we calculate
 
0.492 L@ 0.76 R@
2 4

L@
 R@
T
5772 K
ùñ T  5550 K.

(e) Using Wien’s law (see §3.2 of GMA), we get:

λpeak
 10 nm K 
 Tb  2.8985550
6
521 nm.
eff K

(f) The surface temperature, also known as the equilibrium temperature, of a planet depends on a
balance of energy absorbed from its star and the energy emitted from the planet. In its most
simple form, it written as
 1{2
R
Tp  T
2d
p1
Aq1{4 ,
where T and R are the temperature and radius of the host star (Why do we use  instead of
@ ?), d is the distance between the planet and the star, and A is the albedo. An explanation of the
formula can be found here.
Plugging in, we get
 {
0.76 R@
1 2
Tp  5550 K 1.4 au
p1
0.4q1{4  173 K.

Make sure to convert R and d to the same units!

(Rabbit Hole: This model of the surface temperature of a planet is an extremely simple one.
(What assumptions does it make?) A more advanced resource can be found here3 . §26.1 derives
the equation we just used and §26.2 adds in the “greenhouse effect” by including a one-layer
atmosphere.)

3 We can’t figure out what textbook this is taken from. So we apologize in advance if the link breaks.

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Astronomy C Walkthrough UT 2024

2. Exoplanet Detection! Let’s take a closer look at the two most common exoplanet detection methods.
Transit detection has confirmed over 4,000 exoplanets so far. For close to edge-on orbits (i  90 ), as
a planet orbits its host star, it will cause a dip in the observed stellar flux as it transits in front of the
star.
For the following questions, assume a circular orbit. The diagram below shows a transiting exoplanet
and the system’s associated light curve. Rs and Rp are the radii of the star and planet, respectively. For
an edge-on orbit, the planet transits along the equator of the host star. For i near 90 , it transits along
a chord a distance bRs away from the star’s center, where 0 ¤ b ¤ 1 is a constant termed the impact
parameter.

(a) [4 pts] What is the maximum and minimum inclination for the transit to be visible? Express your
answer in terms of the parameters in the image above and the semi-major axis of the orbit, a.
(b) [3 pts] What is the maximum possible dip in flux observed, d, as a fraction of the total stellar flux?
Express your answer in terms of Rp and Rs .

Solution: Exoplanets are one of the key focus areas for this year. Vox has an introduction video to
exoplanets and their various detection methods.
These two questions go over some of the key derivations for the transit method. Here is a video lecture
discussing it. Also, Transiting Exoplanets (2010) by Carole A. Haswell (hereafter TE) is a wonderful
introduction to transits and covers these derivations in more depth.
(a) The following diagram (Figure 3.2 in TE) shows the transit geometry. Note that with our definition
of b, the diagram should have bRs in place of b.

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Astronomy C Walkthrough UT 2024

Using trigonometric relations, we find that a cospiq  bRs . Since 0 ¤ b ¤ 1, we can substitute in
this inequality to find

i ¥ cos
1
Rs
.
a

This means that if i gets too small, the orbit of the exoplanet will be too far up to move in front
of the star to make a transit.
The inequality i ¥ cos
1 ppRs Rp q{aq was also accepted, because it takes into account the radius
of the planet. We accepted both responses since the radius of the star is typically much greater
than the radius of the planet (Rs " Rp ).
§3.1.3 of TE goes over impact parameters in more depth.

(b) Since we are viewing the system from extremely far away, the exoplanet and the star look like disks
of radius Rp and Rs , respectively. The maximum decreases in flux received from the star occurs
when the planet’s “disk” is fully inside of the stellar “disk”. Then, the percent decrease in the stellar
disk we see is exactly
 2
d
Rp
.
Rs

Partial credit of 1 point was given to teams who gave the expression for 1
d  pRs2
Rp2 q{Rs2 .
Read §1.4 in TE for more information.

Another popular form of exoplanet detection is the radial velocity method, which utilizes the Doppler
“wobble” emerging from the gravitational force exerted on the host star. This Doppler shift can be
measured to create a radial velocity curve of the host star over time. A radial velocity curve is shown
below with a maximum observed speed of vmax and period T . For the following questions, assume the
planet’s motion follows an edge-on, circular orbit.

(c) [4 pts] Suppose that we have been able to determine the mass of the host star Ms . What is the
orbital speed of the planet vp ? Give your answer in terms of observed quantities from the radial
velocity curve (T , vmax ), as well as fundamental constants.
(d) [4 pts] What is the mass of the planet, Mp , in terms of the host star mass Ms , its radial velocity
amplitude vmax , and the inferred planet speed vp ?
(e) [3 pts] How does your expression for Mp change when the orbit cannot be assumed to be edge-on
(i  90 )?

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Astronomy C Walkthrough UT 2024

Solution:
(c) Since we have the orbit period T and the mass of the star Ms , we can use Kepler’s third law to get
the semi-major axis of the orbit a:
 {
1 3
a 3
 GMs 2
4π 2
T ùñ a
GMs 2
4π 2
T ,

where G is the gravitational constant.

Since we are assuming a circular orbit, the semi-major axis of the orbit is the same as the radius.
We can use the circular orbit velocity formula and substitute in our semi-major axis to get
c  {
1 3
2πGMs
vp  GMs
a
 T
.

§2.3 of SMA goes over Kepler’s laws.

(d) Because the planet and host star orbit around their center of mass, Mp vp  Ms vs , where vs is the
true velocity of the star, which equals vmax in the case of an edge-on orbit. So we can write:

Mp  Msvvmax .
p

Partial credit of 3 points was given for Mp  pMs vs q{vp .

(e) If the orbit is not edge-on, vmax  vs sinpiq, as vmax is the radial component of the star’s true
velocity. So we get:
Mp  vMssin
vmax
piq .
p

§3.4 of SMA goes over radial-velocity plots and discusses the effect of inclination (see Figure 3.19).

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