| Assignment #1 Questions |
Q1. When is the assignment due?
A1. The assignment is due Monday January 26th before 4:00PM. Please read the instructions on the cover sheet and make sure you put the assignment in the correct drop boxes in MP ANYTIME before 4pm.
Q2. Can I work by myself?
A2. Yes.
Q3. Do I have to find my own group?
A3. Yes. We leave it to the students to organize themselves in a group.
Q4. Can I work with people from other tutorial?
A4. Yes, you can. Just remember that you should hand in the assignment according to first person on the cover sheet. Also, the assignment will be handed back to that person as well.
Q5. What kind of documentation format should I use?
A5. Any reasonable format is fine. You can find some examples here (note this is a science class)
Q6. Do we have to answer for all three missions or just the two (MOST and COROT)?
A6. You have to answer for all three missions in all parts of this assignment.
Q7. What is the difference between angular size and resolution for Q1.d). Also, which one is 6.2 relevant for?
A7. When the question asks for the angular resolution, you need to find the best possible resolution that the telescope can achieve. This is the diffraction limit of the telescope and it can easily calculated.
In reality, the images of stars from CCD are not at the diffraction limit. The question asks you to look up the actual angular size of the stars from the telescope and explain why the stars are not as sharp as you would expect them to be.
The answer lies in the limitation of the CCD. Each pixel on a CCD can only detect certain number of photons before it saturates. To circumvent this problem, the telescope is defocussed.
Your answer should include how you calculated the angular resolution and the angular size of the star image that you found. You also should explain, in your own words, why these space telescopes are deliberately defocussed.
Q8. Do I need to talk about each mission separately or can they be answered as one? (Especially, Question 3 and 4)
A8. Question 3 can be answered as one, especially as far as planets around other stars are concerned. Likewise, so can 4a and 4c, but obviously 4b has a separate answer for each mission and the differences are important.
Q9. How many objects can MOST observe at once?
A9. This is hard to find in the website, since it has changed during the mission because of changes in the way it is used. According to our TA Bryce Croll, who works extensively with MOST and has published several papers on his research, it is 1 to 40.
Q10. What sources would be useful in answering the assignment questions?
A10. The textbook contains some answers or at least hints to the correct answers for some of the assignment problems. However, for other problems, you will need to use other sources such as books, scientific journals, and the web. Online sources can be very helpful, but you have to be careful to use only reputable and reliable scientific sources. For instance, an online encyclopedia and a NASA web site are fine, but a report on CNN or a newspaper are not.
If you are using sources other than your textbook, you have to reference them properly. If your extra source is a book, then write the name of the book, the author and publisher, and the chapter or page. If you are using a journal, you have to provide the name of the journal, the volume and page, as well as the title of the article that you have used. Finally, if you are using the web, you have to provide the web address (URL) of the website along with the title of the article and its author. Footnotes are acceptable for citations.
NOTE: Remember that the idea of using online sources is NOT to COPY-PASTE part of the article, but to use the information that you get from that article in your answers. A short quote is allowed, but you have to put it in quotation marks to make it clear that it does not consist of your own words.Q11. How many people can work together as a group?
A11. For Assignment #1, groups can vary in size from 1 to 5 people.
Q12. How long do my answers have to be?
A12. Answers should be long enough to fully explain the subject, but otherwise should be as concise as possible. Point form is encouraged when possible. Tables are a great way of displaying facts (though be careful to cite ALL references).
Q13. What happens if I have a class at the same time that I am supposed to hand in the assignment?
A13. Please hand in the assignment to the drop boxes ANYTIME before it is due (ie hand in before your class)!