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EXERCISE 4
(a) Earth's mass is 6 * 10^24 kg, and its distance from the Sun is 1 AU. What would the resolution of a spectrograph have to be, in terms of its minimum delta(lambda)/(lambda), in order to detect the effect of Earth on the Sun, from the vantage point of a distant astronomer? (b) How many times larger or smaller is the effect of Earth on the solar system's center-of-mass velocity compared to the effect of Jupiter? Does this ratio pose a problem with detecting an Earth-like planet in a solar system that also contains Jupiter-like planets? |