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The Voyage of the Mako (Posted on 2011-04-05)

The space freighter ‘Mako’ trades out of Antares. It travels at constant speed through hyperspace and its route is as follows:

ITINERARY
Antares-Alniyat ...........7 days
Alniyat- β Normae .......4 days
β Normae-1 Scorpii .....8 days
1 Scorpii-Antares ........5 days
Antares- π Scorpii .......7 days
π Scorpii-1 Scorpii.......3 days
1 Scorpii-Alniyat .........5 days
Alniyat-Dschubba ........3 days
Dschubba-Akrab .........6 days
Akrab-π Scorpii ..........4 days
π Scorpii- β Normae .....6 days
(Parts of days ignored throughout)

How many days would it take the ‘Mako’ to travel back home from β Normae to Antares?

Submitted by broll

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Solution: (Hide)

Two threshhold puzzles: there are two stars called Alniyat, and 'B. Nor' does not exist in modern catalogs, having been reclassified from Norma to Scorpius in the 1930s. However the two Alniyats are rather far apart (in the context of this problem) and checking would quickly show that the Alniyat in question must be Tau Sco. rather than Sigma Sco. Further checking e.g. here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_stars_in_Scorpius , would quickly reveal B. Nor.'s new identity as H Sco.
If we then compute the distances between the given pairs of stars, we obtain:
From.... To.... pc.... Days
Antares Alniyat 55.54 ... 7
Alniyat B. Nor... 31.35 ... 4
B. Nor. 1. Sco... 63.86 ... 8
1. Sco Antares... 37.51 ... 5
Antares Pi Sco.. 50.01... 7
Pi Sco 1. Sco ... 19.71 ... 3
1. Sco Alniyat ... 39.39... 5
Alniyat Dschubba 23.32 ... 3
Dschubba Akrab... 40.12 ... 6
Akrab Pi Sco..... 27.66 ... 4
Pi.Sco. B.Nor..... 44.98 ... 6

from which we can easily establish the conversion factor used from days to parsecs, as being between 7.99 and 8.01. Given, e.g. here:
http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=Antares%2C+H+Scorpii
that the distance from Antares to B. Normae is 85.85pc, we then compute that the travel time is between 10.72 days and 10.74 days, which rounds up to 11 days.

Comments: ( You must be logged in to post comments.)

Subject	Author	Date
re: A new answer	broll	2011-04-08 13:05:19
A new answer	Dej Mar	2011-04-08 12:18:36
Solution now posted	broll	2011-04-08 08:57:53
re(4): An example of one solution	Charlie	2011-04-08 02:39:05
re(3): An example of one solution	broll	2011-04-08 02:26:29
re(2): An example of one solution	Dej Mar	2011-04-07 17:18:52
re: An example of one solution	broll	2011-04-07 14:38:12
An example of one solution	Dej Mar	2011-04-07 12:32:52
re: an attempt at a solution	broll	2011-04-07 11:55:52
a possible answer	Dej Mar	2011-04-07 02:26:51
an attempt at a solution	Charlie	2011-04-06 14:50:41
re: answer	broll	2011-04-06 09:07:26
answer	Dej Mar	2011-04-06 03:25:05
Simple solution (spoiler?) and thoughts	Steve Herman	2011-04-05 19:00:42

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