[AZ-Observing] Re: Mercury, Sun, and Earth Diameters
- From: <saguaroastro@xxxxxxx>
- To: az-observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 8 Nov 2006 10:56:25 -0800
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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