- Practical Exercise 1 RADIANS OR DEGREES?
- Practical Exercise 2 MARS IN OPPOSITION AND QUADRATURE
- Practical Exercise 3 MEASURING MERCURY AND VENUS
- Practical Exercise 4 “MERCUAN”
- Practical Exercise 5 THE EARTH FROM MARS
- Practical Exercise 6 HOW BIG IS THE MOON?
- Practical Exercise 7 THE MOON AGAIN
- Practical Exercise 8 PARAMETERS OF PLANET TRAJECTORIES
- Practical Exercise 9 LIKE FROM ANOTHER PLANET...
- Practical Exercise 10 FEET FIRMLY ON THE EARTH...
- Practical Exercise 11 GREEK, HOW BIG IS THE EARTH?
- Practical Exercise 12 THE MOON IN ACTION FOR THE THIRD TIME
Practical Exercise 2: MARS IN OPPOSITION AND QUADRATURE
How far is Mars from the Earth if Mars is in a) opposition, b) quadrature? How many times would Mars appear to be larger in opposition than in quadrature in an astronomical telescope? ahe radius of the circular orbit of Mars is a♂ = 1,52 au. Figure 1 can help.
(source: https://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_329.html)
Answer:
a) From Figure 1 it is possible to easily determine the distance of the Earth from Mars in opposition:
b) ahe distance of the Earth from Mars in quadrature is determined from Pythagoras theorem:
.
ahe image in the telescope will appear in opposition as many times larger than in quadrature, as the number of times Mars is closer in opposition than in quadrature:
.