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Old 29-12-2006, 10:35 PM
Dennis
Dazzled by the Cosmos.

Dennis is offline
 
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Brisbane
Posts: 11,832
Another example:

If you step outside and gaze at the Southern Cross (Crux), have a look at the “bottom” star, Acrux and the top star, “Gacrux” which define the long axis of Crux.

The angular distance between these 2 stars is approx 6 degrees. So, you could fit 12 full Moons in between these 2 stars. (12 x ½ degree = 6 degrees).

Generally, this is how amateur astronomers measure distances between objects, using degrees, arc minutes and arc seconds.

Here are some examples:
Full Moon is approx 30 arc mins in diameter.
Sun is approx 30 arc mins in diameter.
Jupiter ranges from 30 arc secs to around 45 arc secs in diameter.

Cheers

Dennis
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