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Date May 2016 Marks available 2 Reference code 16M.3.HL.TZ0.17
Level Higher level Paper Paper 3 Time zone Time zone 0
Command term Calculate Question number 17 Adapted from N/A

Question

Beta Centauri is a star in the southern skies with a parallax angle of 8.32×10−3 arc-seconds. Calculate, in metres, the distance of this star from Earth.

[2]
b.

Outline why astrophysicists use non-SI units for the measurement of astronomical distance.

[1]
c.

Markscheme

\(d = \frac{1}{{8.32 \times {{10}^{ - 3}}}}\) OR 120«pc»

120×3.26×9.46×1015=3.70×1018m

Answer must be in metres, watch for POT.

b.

distances are so big/large OR to avoid using large powers of 10 OR they are based on convenient definitions

c.

Examiners report

[N/A]
b.
[N/A]
c.

Syllabus sections

Option D: Astrophysics » Option D: Astrophysics (Core topics) » D.1 – Stellar quantities
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