Question:

Distance between 2 stars?

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Star "alpha" is 200 ly from Earth

Star "beta" is 150 ly from Earth

The angle between "alpha" and "beta" is 28 degrees

How far is "alpha" from "beta"

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2 ANSWERS


  1. Well...

    Is it okay if i don't answer the question but steer you a bit to help?

    This is a standard geometry question.

    Side Angle Side.  With this information you can solve the rest.

    Use this as a reference, and good luck.


  2. You need the Law of Cosines for a problem of this type, namely,

    c^2 = a^2 + b^2 -2abcos(Gamma)

    In this problem a = 200 ly, b = 150 ly, and Gamma = 28°.  We're looking for c.

    c^2 = 200^2 + 150^2 - 2(200)(150)cos 28°

    c^2 = 40,000 + 22,500 - 2 * 30,000 * 0.882947593

    c^2 = 62,500 - 52976.85557 = 9523.144429

    So c = 97.587 ly.

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