Transit of Venus, Sun-Earth Day 2012
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Observing Certificate Program Parallax Activity
Method 1 - Angular Diameter Distance
Assumptions:
Diameter of the Sun - 0.5244 degrees
Diameter of Venus - 12,600 kilometers
Earth-Venus distance in Astronomical Units = 0.28
Step 1
- Select an image of the Transit of Venus from the
GALLERY
Step 2
- Measure the diameter of the sun in millimeters
Step 3
- Measure the diameter of Venus in millimeters
Step 4
- Enter your measurements to the nearest millimeter below:
Enter your measurements below:
Diameter of the Sun A =
mm
Diameter of Venus B =
mm
Angular diameter of Venus
V = 0.5244 ×
B
_
A
=
Distance to Venus from Earth (in Kilometers)
D = 12,600 ×
57.2958
_
V
=
Estimated value for Astronomical Unit (Earth to Sun distance in kilometers)
1 AU = ( D / 0.28 ) =
Your estimate for the Astronomical Unit in millions of kilometers:
How close did you come to the official value of 149 million kilometers?
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Parallax Math: Method 1
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