| Online: | |
| Visits: | |
| Stories: |
| Story Views | |
| Now: | |
| Last Hour: | |
| Last 24 Hours: | |
| Total: | |
Want to Measure the Distance to the Moon Yourself? Now You Can!
The dazzling full moon sets behind the Very Large Telescope in Chile’s Atacama Desert in this photo released June 7, 2010 by the European Southern Observatory. The moon appears larger than normal due to an optical illusion of perspective.
Image Credit: Gordon Gillet, ESO.
Astronomy is a discipline pursued at a distance. And yet, actually measuring that last word — distance — can be incredibly tricky, even if we set our sights as nearby as the Moon.
But now astronomers from the University of Antioquia, Colombia, have devised a clever method that allows citizen scientists to measure the Moon’s distance with only their digital camera and smartphone.
“Today a plethora of advanced and accessible technological devices such as smartphones, tablets, digital cameras and precise clocks, is opening a new door to the realm of ‘do-it-yourself-science’ and from there to the possibility of measuring the local Universe by oneself,” writes lead author Jorge Zuluaga in his recently submitted paper. (…)
Read the rest of Want to Measure the Distance to the Moon Yourself? Now You Can! (613 words)
© Shannon Hall for Universe Today, 2014. |
Permalink |
No comment |
Post tags: Citizen Science, Lunar Distance
Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh
Source: http://www.universetoday.com/112043/want-to-measure-the-distance-to-the-moon-yourself-now-you-can/
