By John D. Clark

Instead of taking somebody's observe concerning the easy dimension and distances for the sun system's items, this booklet indicates novice astronomers how one can degree this stuff for themselves. this can be an enriching adventure for any beginner astronomer - to appreciate and individually degree basic astronomical amounts and distances.

A uncomplicated wisdom of geometry is needed, however it is astounding how easy the information could be. Readers are led during the information as lightly as attainable - and in a light-hearted approach - presuming that the majority could have half-forgotten many of the arithmetic.

The useful astronomical apparatus advised is not any greater than a customary commercially-made novice telescope and a digicam of a few type - nowadays a webcam works rather well. except that each one the reader will want is entry to a working laptop or computer with net carrier, the knowledge to obtain unfastened software program, and an enthusiasm to extend his wisdom of the fundamentals of medical astronomy.

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Fig. 1 The route taken. 1. 35 we experienced the sunsets at different times 3 h drive apart. The whole idea was to see for ourselves how big the Earth is. 6 miles. Google Maps said I drove 133 miles. You pays your money and you takes your choice. My route was about 18% longer than the constant-latitude distance. From the map in Fig. 1, that looks reasonable. 2 shows how to calculate the circumference of the circle of constant latitude along which the measurements were taken. The circumference of a circle at latitude L is 2pR sin(L).

01 mm. I did my sums, and got a value for the Moon’s diameter about 25% higher than the commonly published value of 3,476 km or 2,160 miles. Fig. 1. Two terrible photos, but you can see that the Moon and the Saturn have moved apart in 38 min. How Far Away and How Big is the Moon? 31 Fig. 2. Two frames earlier than Fig. 1a, this frame shows some features to enable me to orient the Moon in the picture. Fig. 3. Digital calipers. Morale was restored. I had not wasted my time. The following month, weather permitting, I would have a go at repeating the experiment in a more planned fashion.

37 Orbit of Centre-of-Mass of and A Earth ( ) Orbit of about Centre-of-Mass of and Moon ( ) B Sun C Orbit of about Centre-of-Mass of and Fig. 6. Exactly what is the time taken to complete one orbit? New Moons occur at A and C. This is because the Moon is in the same direction as the Sun when viewed from the Earth. In the meantime, the Earth has moved about one-twelfth of the way around the Sun. ) By the time it is at C, the Moon has completed more then one orbit since it was at A. It completed this orbit at B.

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