Author Question: It is possible that life exists on orphan planets, even though they do not orbit a star. Indicate ... (Read 25 times)

jerry coleman · **on:** Jul 27, 2018

It is possible that life exists on orphan planets, even though they do not orbit a star.

Indicate whether the statement is true or false

Question 2

Briefly explain why we think white-dwarf supernovae are useful for measuring cosmic distances.

What will be an ideal response?

durant1234 · **Reply #1 on:** Jul 27, 2018

Answer to Question 1

TRUE

Answer to Question 2

They all come from explosions of white dwarfs that reach the white-dwarf limit, so we expect them all to have the same luminosity; observations of white-dwarf supernovae for which we can measure distance independently confirm that they all have the same luminosity. Since we can assume we know their luminosity, we can use their apparent brightnesses to determine distance from the luminosity-distance formula.