SOLUTION: A satellite, which you can assume to be spherical, has a diameter of 11 m. If it subtends an angle of 0.0010° to an observer on Earth, find the distance to the satellite, giving

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Question 1033100: A satellite, which you can assume to be spherical, has a diameter of 11 m. If
it subtends an angle of 0.0010° to an observer on Earth, find the distance to
the satellite, giving your answer to two significant figures.
Answer by ankor@dixie-net.com(22740) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
A satellite, which you can assume to be spherical, has a diameter of 11 m.
If it subtends an angle of 0.0010° to an observer on Earth, find the distance to
the satellite, giving your answer to two significant figures.
:
The diameter of the satellite, and the observer form a scalene triangle made up of two right triangles, the distance from the observer to the satellite form one side which bisects the angle .0010 which is .0005 degrees.
The other side is half the diameter of the satellite or 5.5 meters
Assign the angles and sides as follows
A = .0005 degrees
a = 5.5 m
B = 180 - 90 - .0005 = 89.9995 degrees
b = the distance from the observer to the satellite
Using the law of sines
b%2Fsin%2889.9995%29 = 5.5%2Fsin%28.0005%29
:
b = %285.5%2Asin%2889.9995%29%29%2Fsin%28.0005%29
use your calc
b = 630253.57 meters which is 630.25 km