[AZ-Observing] Re: Mercury, Sun, and Earth Diameters

The question I'll most likely get will be "What the hell are do doing?"

(Although you'd think my co-workers would know by now that it's not uncommon 
for me to be outside with binoculars looking straight up)

Rick



---- Tom Polakis <tpolakis@xxxxxxx> wrote: 
> 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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