Four students are making claims about stars and their apparent brightness.

• Ursula: "The star that appears brightest to us is the Sun because it is the largest in the galaxy."
• Gretel: "The Sun appears to be the brightest star because it is the closest to Earth."
• Hansel: "The Sun is the brightest star when looking from Earth because it is the hottest."
• Phoebe: "I have seen brighter stars than the Sun; it isn't that great."

Their teacher shares the following information from NASA, "Of course, the star that appears the brightest to all of us on Earth is the Sun. Although it is a rather typical star, not all that different from many of the ones you see at night, we live so close to it that it outshines everything else. Even the next closest star is more than a quarter of a million times farther from Earth, so it is not surprising that the light from the Sun overwhelms that from other stars."

Which student's argument is supported by the teacher's research?

Source: https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/review/dr-marc-space/brightest-star.html

Besides the Sun, all other stars appear to be pin-pricks of light. Why do the other stars appear so small?

Four students are making claims about stars and their apparent brightness.

• Ursula: "The star that appears brightest to us is the Sun because it is the largest in the galaxy."
• Gretel: "The Sun appears to be the brightest star because it is the closest to Earth."
• Hansel: "The Sun is the brightest star when looking from Earth because it is the hottest."
• Phoebe: "I have seen brighter stars than the Sun; it isn't that great."

Their teacher shares the following information from NASA, "Of course, the star that appears the brightest to all of us on Earth is the Sun. Although it is a rather typical star, not all that different from many of the ones you see at night, we live so close to it that it outshines everything else. Even the next closest star is more than a quarter of a million times farther from Earth, so it is not surprising that the light from the Sun overwhelms that from other stars."

Which student's argument is supported by the teacher's research?

Source: https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/review/dr-marc-space/brightest-star.html

Besides the Sun, all other stars appear to be pin-pricks of light. Why do the other stars appear so small?

Which statement about the Sun is correct?

Which statement about the Sun is correct?

"To find out the true brightness of a star, scientists need to know how far it is. Although there are some very clever ways of gauging the distances to stars, they generally work well only for stars that are in the Sun's neighborhood of the Milky Way galaxy. The more distant stars are just so fantastically far from us that measuring their distances accurately is too difficult. Making it still harder to know how bright a star is, there is a kind of patchy fog between the stars - space is not truly empty. Although it is not the same as the fog on Earth, gas and dust in space can dim the light of stars. Without a good way to know how much of this interstellar fog is blocking the light, there is no reliable way to discover the true brightness of a star." - NASA

Which piece of evidence from NASA's passage describes a complication with measuring a star's actual brightness?

Source: https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/review/dr-marc-space/brightest-star.html

"To find out the true brightness of a star, scientists need to know how far it is. Although there are some very clever ways of gauging the distances to stars, they generally work well only for stars that are in the Sun's neighborhood of the Milky Way galaxy. The more distant stars are just so fantastically far from us that measuring their distances accurately is too difficult. Making it still harder to know how bright a star is, there is a kind of patchy fog between the stars - space is not truly empty. Although it is not the same as the fog on Earth, gas and dust in space can dim the light of stars. Without a good way to know how much of this interstellar fog is blocking the light, there is no reliable way to discover the true brightness of a star." - NASA

Which piece of evidence from NASA's passage describes a complication with measuring a star's actual brightness?

Source: https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/review/dr-marc-space/brightest-star.html

Mrs. Johnson's class is investigating the brightness of stars. Mrs. Johnson sets up the investigation, and the students begin working. The first two student volunteers held identical flashlights at an equal distance from the whiteboard. The class decides after noting the lights on the board look the same that when two stars are at an equal distance, they have the same actual brightness. For the second part of the investigation, two student volunteers held the identical flashlights at two different distances. Students observed than the flashlight that is closer to the whiteboard appears to be brighter than the flashlight that is further away from the whiteboard. Their observations are recorded in the data table below.

What inference can the students draw from this demonstration?

Mrs. Johnson's class is investigating the brightness of stars. Mrs. Johnson sets up the investigation, and the students begin working. The first two student volunteers held identical flashlights at an equal distance from the whiteboard. The class decides after noting the lights on the board look the same that when two stars are at an equal distance, they have the same actual brightness. For the second part of the investigation, two student volunteers held the identical flashlights at two different distances. Students observed than the flashlight that is closer to the whiteboard appears to be brighter than the flashlight that is further away from the whiteboard. Their observations are recorded in the data table below.

What inference can the students draw from this demonstration?