Simple demonstration experiments for astronomical parallax
Physics Education
2017-06-21 v1
Abstract
Parallax is the most important astronomical method for determining the distances from the Earth to nearby stars. We present two hands-on activities that explore the concepts and practice of parallax measurement. The first activity is a simple geometrical set-up using simple theodolites, and is accessible for students grade 7 and above. The second activity uses digital photography to recreate astronomical parallax measurements in a classroom setting, and is suitable for students grade 10 and above.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1706.06555,
title = {Simple demonstration experiments for astronomical parallax},
author = {Markus Pössel},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1706.06555},
year = {2017}
}
Comments
7 pages, 12 figures. Published in two parts as "Parallax: reaching the stars with geometry" in Science in School 39, pp. 40-44 (2017) and "Finding the scale of space" in Science in School 40, pp. 40-45 (2017)