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[AZ-Observing] Mercury, Sun, and Earth Diameters
- From: Tom Polakis <tpolakis@xxxxxxx>
- To: AZ-Observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx, evac@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 8 Nov 2006 11:28:20 -0500
The most common question we will get when we show the Mercury transit to the
public (after "how much did that telescope cost?") will probably be about the
size of the Sun and Mercury. I have found that one significant figure is more
than enough, and don't use km, even though metric has been adopted in all other
parts of the civilized world.
Diameters:
Sun: 900,000 miles
Mercury: 3000 miles
Earth: 8000 miles
During the transit, Mercury is about two-thirds of the way to the Sun. Placed
at the distance of Mercury, the Earth would appear less than three times as
large as the tiny, black dot.
Tom
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