Related papers: Measuring Mountains on the Moon

The location of an astronomical observatory is a key factor that affects its scientific productivity. The best astronomical sites are generally those found at high altitudes. Several such sites in western China and the Tibetan plateau are…

The first three quarters of this paper consists of a pedagogical review of neutrino oscillations, including vacuum oscillations, constant density matter oscillations and variable density matter oscillations. We then address the question of…

Any three-dimensional Riemannian metric can be locally obtained by deforming a constant curvature metric along one direction. The general interest of this result, both in geometry and physics, and related open problems are stressed.

The Total Solar Irradiance varies over a solar cycle of 11 years and maybe over cycles with longer period. Is the solar diameter variable over time too? We introduce a new method to perform high resolution astrometry of the solar diameter…

The Magellanic Clouds, especially the Large Magellanic Cloud, are places where multiple distance indicators can be compared with each other in a straight-forward manner at considerable precision. We here review the distances derived from…

I describe how to obtain a rather good experimental determination of the eccentricity of the Earth orbit, as well as the obliquity of the Earth rotation axis, by measuring, over the course of a year, the elevation of the Sun as a function…

Galileo Galilei had sufficient skill as an observer and instrument builder to be able to measure the positions and apparent sizes of objects seen through his telescopes to an accuracy of 2" or better. However, Galileo had no knowledge of…

Presented is a successful two week lab involving real sky observations of the Moon in which students make telescopic observations and analyze their own images. Originally developed around the 35 mm film camera as a common household object…

We define various height functions for motives over number fields. We compare these height functions with classical height functions on algebraic varieties, and also with analogous height functions for variations of Hodge structures on…

The observation of the Moon shadow effect with the L3+C detector is reported. The expected offset and elongation of the Moon shadow due to the geomagnetic field are clearly observed. A determination of the angular resolution and pointing…

Sierra Negra, one of the highest peaks in central Mexico, is the site of the Large Millimeter Telescope. We describe the first results of a comprehensive analysis of the weather data measured in situ from October 2000 to February 2008 to be…

The averaging problem in cosmology is of considerable importance for the correct interpretation of cosmological data. We review cosmological observations and discuss some of the issues regarding averaging. We present a precise definition of…

The lunar surface is a compelling location for large, distributed optical facilities, with significant advantages over orbital facilities for high spatial resolution astrophysics. The serious development of mission concepts is timely…

Almost all meteorite impacts occur at oblique incidence angles, but the effect of impact angle on crater size is not well understood, especially for large craters. To improve oblique impact crater scaling, we present a suite of simulations…

The measurement of the Sun's diameter has been first tackled by the Greek astronomers from a geometric point of view. Their estimation of ~1800", although incorrect, was not truly called into question for several centuries. The first…

The geometric median of a domain is the point that minimises the average distance from itself to the points of the domain. We will give a gradient system of equations that defines the geometric median of a triangular domain and will prove a…

A model based on celestial geometry and atmospheric physics predicts the dimming and the color of lunar eclipses. Corresponding visual magnitudes and color indices for eclipses from year 2000 through 2050 are listed. The enlargement of the…

The null findings of the terrestrially conducted Michelson-Morley type experiments have been influential to determining which physical theory best fits reality. Here, we propose the use of parallax and ranging techniques of distance…

Electronic structure calculations are ubiquitous in most branches of chemistry, but all have errors in both energies and equilibrium geometries. Quantifying errors in possibly dozens of bond angles and bond lengths is a Herculean task. A…

This is a translation from Latin of E348 'Methodus facilis motus corporum coelestium utcunque perturbatos ad rationem calculi astronomici revocandi', in which Euler develops a method to alleviate the astronomical computations in a typical…