In: Physics
By using arc-length, determine the angular size of the Moon as seen from Earth. Also, determine the angular size of the Sun as seen from Earth.
show full steps please
In the figure, the angular size of the object is
Therefore the angular size is
. ............. (1)
For small angles, this can be approximated to
But I will use equation(1) which will give the slightly more accurate result.
where d is the diameter of the object and D is the distance from the observer on earth to the object
a) For Moon
and distance from earth to the moon is
Therefore the angular size of the moon is
Also, note that
Therefore the angular size of the moon is
b) For Sun
Therefore
In arcseconds,