You ask a nice librarian alien how to approach getting more information about the asteroid impact,
and she gives you a book full of environmental data. Assuming the flash of light is from the heat of
impact and subsequent wildfires, you use the plot below to determine the properties of the light.
Common Wildfire Spectra
Radiative Flux [10° W/m²]
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
Wavelength [m]
1.0
1.2
7. Assuming that wildfires can be approximated as blackbodies, which spectral curve
on this plot corresponds to the highest temperature wildfire? What is its temperature?
Provide your answer in units of Kelvin. In what part of the electromagnetic spectrum
does this wildfire emit the most light?
8. If we measure light at the peak wavelength with the alien telescope, what is
the best angular resolution it can achieve? To determine its baseline, L, the typical
distance between individual satellites, you should refer to the array's and alien galaxy's
dimensions. What is the angular resolution of just one of its satellite dishes? Provide
your answers in units of nano-arcseconds.
9. If you assume the Earth is entirely engulfed in flames, turning it into a nearly
perfect blackbody, and that the radiative flux at the peak wavelength is uniform across
the Earth's surface, how much total energy was emitted in 5 seconds over the entire
Earth?
10. Calculate the luminosity of the impact. What flux would the alien telescope
measure?