APAO 2012

QUESTION PAPERS







THEORY
QUESTION PAPERS












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V I I I Asian-Pacific
Astronomy Olympiad
, - 26.XI. 4.XII. 2012 Coxs Bazar, Bangladesh
Theor et i cal r ound
1. Canopus. Canopus was a very popular star in problems set of the XVII IAO in Gwangju, Korea
(October 16-24, 2012). But nobody had success seeing it during that Olympiad. Maybe here you will
be lucky? Calculate time for the best conditions for observation of Canopus during the next 24 hours.
Bangladesh time should be used.
2. Image of Eclipse. Two weeks ago, in the morning of November 14, 2012, a
Total Solar Eclipse was observed in the North-East Australia. The photo (the
whole size displayed) was taken by a Canon SX50 HS camera, which has
3000

x

4000 pixels CCD, and the distance between the centres of the adjustant
pixels is 1.54 m ( = 1.5410
-6
m). Calculate the focal distance of the cameras
objective used to get the image.
3. Sunspot. Astronauts who arrived at Mercury observe the Sun. They see a sunspot located just in the
center of the visible solar disk. After what time will this spot be in the centre of the solar disk once
again? The sidereal period of the equatorial regions of the Sun is 25.38 days.
4. Bear and satellite. The Polar Bear is sitting at the North Pole of the Earth, philosophizes and
watches celestial objects. An artificial satellite moving in a circular polar orbit appeared in his vision.
The first time the satellite disappeared over the horizon at the longitude of Gwangju, and the next
time it disappeared over the horizon at the longitude of Cox's Bazar. At what height above the head
of the Polar Bear the satellite flies? The solution has to include an artistic picture with an image of
the Polar Bear-observer at the North Pole.
5. Comet Holmes. Comet Holmes (17P Holmes) has been
known since 1892, being an unremarkable object of 17
th

magnitude for many years. Based on computations, the
diameter of comet's nucleus was estimated to
d
0
= 3.4 km. And a few years ago it presented a surprise
for all astronomers. In two days on October 23-25, 2007,
its brightness suddenly increased many thousands
times. As per one of the first versions, of the nucleus of
the comet collided with some microcosmic celestial
body, and as a result, there was a great explosion, and
the nucleus fell apart into many small fragments. The
graph shows the magnitude of the comet versus time for
the days of outburst. Estimate approximately in how
many fragments Comet Holmes was disintegrated
according to this model. What was the average size of a
fragment?
6. Planet Bangladeya. Engineers of Bangladesh created
a new planet Bangladeya from a part of the Earth
substance. Total area of surface of Bangladeya equals to the area of Bangladesh country
(S = 147 600 km
2
). Estimate the acceleration of gravity at the planet Bangladeya.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
, - 26. XI . 4. XI I . 2012 Cox s Bazar , Bangl adesh






EUROASI AN
ASTRONOMI CAL SOCI ETY

Round Theo
Gr oup




English
l anguage

V I I I -

V I I I Asian-Pacific
Astronomy Olympiad
, - 26.XI. 4.XII. 2012 Coxs Bazar, Bangladesh
Theor et i cal r ound
1. Canopus. Canopus was a very popular star in problems set of the XVII IAO in Gwangju, Korea
(October 16-24, 2012). But nobody had success seeing it during that Olympiad. Maybe here you will
be lucky? Calculate time for the best conditions for observation of Canopus during the next 24 hours.
Bangladesh time should be used.
2. Image of Eclipse. Two weeks ago, in the morning of November 14, 2012, a
Total Solar Eclipse was observed in the North-East Australia. The photo (the
whole size displayed) was taken by a Canon SX50 HS camera, which has
3000

x

4000 pixels CCD, and the distance between the centres of the adjustant
pixels is 1.54 m ( = 1.5410
-6
m). Calculate the focal distance of the cameras
objective used to get the image.
3. Remote galaxy. Research of a remote galaxy showed us that the H line in its spectrum is observed
at a wavelength of 34000 . Roughly (with an accuracy of 20%) estimate:
3.1. The receding speed of the galaxy.
3.2. The distance to the galaxy.
4. Bear and satellite. The Polar Bear is sitting at the North Pole of the Earth, philosophizes and
watches celestial objects. An artificial satellite moving in a circular polar orbit appeared in his vision.
The first time the satellite disappeared over the horizon at the longitude of Gwangju, and the next
time it disappeared over the horizon at the longitude of Cox's Bazar. At what height above the head
of the Polar Bear the satellite flies? The solution has to include an artistic picture with an image of
the Polar Bear-observer at the North Pole.
5. Comet Holmes. Comet Holmes (17P Holmes) has been known
since 1892, being an unremarkable object of 17
th
magnitude for
many years. Based on computations, the diameter of comet's
nucleus was estimated to d
0
= 3.4 km. And a few years ago it
presented a surprise for all astronomers. In two days on
October 23-25, 2007, its brightness suddenly increased many
thousands times. As per one of the first versions, of the nucleus
of the comet collided with some microcosmic celestial body, and
as a result, there was a great explosion, and the nucleus fell
apart into many small fragments. The graph shows the
magnitude of the comet versus time for the days of outburst.
Estimate approximately in how many fragments Comet Holmes
was disintegrated according to this model. What was the
average size of a fragment?
6. Planet Bangladeya. Engineers of Bangladesh created a new
planet Bangladeya from a part of the Earth substance. Total area of surface of Bangladeya equals to
the area of Bangladesh country (S = 147 600 km
2
). The planet is rotating around the Sun by circular
orbit so that the mean climate on Bangladeya is the same as in Bangladesh country (the average
temperature is 25.6 C that is 10.5 degrees higher than average on the Earth).
6.1. Estimate the acceleration of gravity at the planet Bangladeya.
6.2. Calculate the duration (in Earth days) of the year on the planet Bangladeya.
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, - 26. XI . 4. XI I . 2012 Cox s Bazar , Bangl adesh

OBSERVATION
QUESTION PAPERS












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V I I I Asian-Pacific
Astronomy Olympiad
, - 26.XI. 4.XII. 2012 Coxs Bazar, Bangladesh

Obser vat i onal r ound

Code of participant:



Quest i ons

Answer s





English



9. Area.
Estimate area, in square degrees,
of the triangle created by the moon,
Jupiter and Aldebaran.

9. .
(
) ,
, .
10. Pegasus.
Look at the constellation
Pegasus. In the list right,
tick mark (
X
XX ) the
constellations which share
boundary with Pegasus.
Andromeda
10. .

.
(
X
XX )
,
.
Aquarius
Aquila
Cassiopeia
Perseus
Pisces
11. Cassiopeia.
In the constellation of Cassiopeia,
the stars are named , , , and
Cas (from left to right). Out of these,
Cas has magnitude of 2.25,
Cas has magnitude of 2.15
and Cas has magnitude of 2.65.
Estimate the magnitude of Cas.

11. .
,
, , , Cas,
.
Cas 2,25,
Cas 2,15
Cas 2,65.
Cas.
Maximum total time for questions 9,
10, 11 is 15 minutes.

9, 10, 11 15 .
Change examiner
12. Alnath.
Show Alnath ( Tau), Capella and
location of the Andromeda Galaxy
to the examiner in that order.

12. .

: ( Tau),
.
Maximum time for question 12 is
4 minutes.

12 4 .
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, - 29. XI . 2012 Cox s Bazar , Bangl adesh

PRACTICAL
QUESTION PAPERS












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V I I I Asian-Pacific
Astronomy Olympiad
, - 26.XI. 4.XII. 2012 Coxs Bazar, Bangladesh
Pr act i cal r ound
7. Noon. An observer based in some city in Bangladesh monitored time of local noon on each
day in the year 2012. In table 1, first column is serial number, second column is date of
observation (D), third column is time of local noon (T) as per observer's clock and the last
column is measured altitude of the Sun at local noon (a) in degrees. Bangladesh follows
UT+6 hours timezone, and it is known that on 15
th
April every year, the mean sun's position
matches exactly with the true sun. Use this data to find:
7.1. Longitude of the Observatory.
7.2. Latitude of the Observatory.
7.3. Use the given map of Bangladesh, to identify the city. Write the name of city exactly as given
in the Map.
7.4. Draw a graph showing equation of time (EoT) correction required (in minutes) for each day.
7.5. Date on which the Sun culminates at the earliest and difference in minutes from local noon.
7.6. Date on which the Sun culminates at the latest and difference in minutes from local noon.
7.7. Dates apart from 15
th
April when the Sun culminates exactly at local noon.
Note: write all dates in DD.MM.YYYY format using Arabic numerals only.



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, - 26. XI . 4. XI I . 2012 Cox s Bazar , Bangl adesh






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V I I I Asian-Pacific
Astronomy Olympiad
, - 26.XI. 4.XII. 2012 Coxs Bazar, Bangladesh

Pr act i cal r ound

8. The black cloud. In science fiction novel ''The black cloud'', written by Sir Fred Hoyle
in 1957, an interstellar dark cloud is discovered approaching the solar system. We will
try to retrace the steps explained in the novel to estimate motion of the cloud. Two
photographs given below show a small region inside the constellation of Orion. The
photographs are taken exactly 2 years apart. The grid in the image has the size of
1
o
x 1
o
.
8.1. In how many years (after the second image) the cloud will entirely cover the belt of
Orion (seen on the left)?
8.2. In how many years (after the second image) the cloud will arrive at the Earth? Assume
the cloud to have uniform velocity throughout the journey.

















____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
, - 26. XI . 4. XI I . 2012 Cox s Bazar , Bangl adesh






EUROASI AN
ASTRONOMI CAL SOCI ETY

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V I I I Asian-Pacific
Astronomy Olympiad
, - 26.XI. 4.XII. 2012 Coxs Bazar, Bangladesh

Pr act i cal r ound

8. Variable stars. An enthusiastic astronomer in Dhaka found the data given in table 2
about variable stars in Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) from virtual observatory. In the
table, first column is serial number of star, second column is its Right Ascension (),
third column is Declination (), fourth column is period of pulsation in days and last
column is its observed magnitude (m).
8.1. Help the observer to classify the variables as classical Cepheids (C1), type II
Cepheids (C2) and RR Lyrae stars (R). You should write these symbols in front of each
star in the table. You may or may not use graph paper.
8.2. Period-luminosity relation for Cepheids takes the form M = Alog
10
(p) + B, where M is
absolute magnitude of the star and A and B are some constants. For LMC, find value
of A and B for both types of Cepheids. You can assume distance of LMC as 48 kpc.
8.3. Identify foreground (mark F) and background (mark B) stars (if any) in the data.
8.4. Estimate distance to the stars which are not part of LMC.
Notes:
Classical Cepheid stars are a type of pulsating variable stars, which show linear
relationship between period of pulsation and absolute luminosity in a log-log plot.
Type II Cepheid stars show exactly similar kind of relationship as classical Cepheids
but are fainter than a classical Cepheids for a given period.
RR Lyrae stars are another type of pulsating variable stars which show very short
period (less than 1 day) of pulsation and for all RR Lyrae stars, the absolute luminosity
is nearly constant.























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, - 26. XI . 4. XI I . 2012 Cox s Bazar , Bangl adesh