How did they calculate distance to the Moon?

How did they calculate distance to the Moon?

“This distance is routinely measured using LIDAR (LIght Detection And Ranging) stations which bounce laser pulses off of the retroreflecting mirrors placed on the Moon by the Apollo astronauts.”

When was moon distance determined?

“Aristarchus around 270 BC derived the Moon’s distance from the duration of a lunar eclipse (Hipparchus later found an independent method). It was commonly accepted in those days that the Earth was a sphere (although its size was only calculated a few years later, by Eratosthenes ).”

How did the Greeks know the distance to the Moon?

“Aristarchus began with the premise that, during a half moon, the moon forms a right triangle with the Sun and Earth. By observing the angle between the Sun and Moon, φ, the ratio of the distances to the Sun and Moon could be deduced using a form of trigonometry.”

Did NASA use metric to get to the Moon?

“Contrary to urban myth, NASA did use the metric system for the Apollo Moon landings.”

Who measured Earth distance to the Moon?

“”Who first measured…” If that means absolute terms, it was Hipparchus. But if relative measures, then Aristarchus did it before Hipparchus. He only got a relative value, saying that the Moon was 18 to 20 times closer than the Sun.”

Was the Moon closer to Earth in the past?

“The moon used to be closer. When it first formed, about 4.5 billion years ago, molded out of rocky debris that had been floating around Earth, the moon orbited 10 times nearer to the planet than it does today. The debris, scientists believe, had come from a collision between Earth and a mysterious Mars-sized object.”

How accurate is the distance to the Moon?

“From the ranging experiments, scientists know that the average distance between the centers of the Earth and the Moon is 385,000 kilometers with an accuracy of better than one part in 10 billion.”

Why is it hard to judge distance on the Moon?

“The near horizon, sharp shadows, and a tendency to underestimate distance and overestimate height of objects makes judging distances difficult on the Moon. On the surface of the Moon, many of the cues used to judge distance, such as trees and trucks, are missing.”

How did Apollo navigate to the Moon?

“The command module’s optics system, called the ‘space sextant’ flew on each Apollo mission, and took the naval sextant to a whole new level. It was a fail safe navigation system that required no power to work and operated independently of all other navigation systems.”

How powerful was the computer that took us to the Moon?

“The computer had 2048 words of erasable magnetic-core memory and 36,864 words of read-only core rope memory. Both had cycle times of 11.72 microseconds. The memory word length was 16 bits: 15 bits of data and one odd-parity bit.”

What did Neil Armstrong use to get to the Moon?

“After four days traveling to the Moon, the Lunar Module Eagle, carrying Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the Moon. Neil Armstrong exited the spacecraft and became the first human to walk on the moon.”

Why don’t we put telescopes on the Moon?

“The fact that radio waves cannot pass through the Moon means that no signals can be sent or received during that time period. Orbiting satellites, any far-side stations or rovers, and even Apollo astronauts all have no means of communicating with Earth with the Moon in the way.”

Who discovered zero and the exact distance between the Earth and the Moon?

“Eratosthenes was also the first to calculate the tilt of the Earth’s axis, which he figured with remarkable accuracy; the finding was reported by Ptolemy (85-165 CE). Eratosthenes also calculated the distance from the Earth to the Moon and to the Sun, but with less accuracy. He made a catalog of 675 stars.”

Who discovered the distance between sun and moon?

“Aristarchus measured the distance to the Sun to be 20 times more than that from the Earth to the Moon, which was off by the factor of 20.”

How do astronauts calculate the distance in space?

“Lightyears. A common method for measuring distance in space is to measure how far light travels in one year: known as a lightyear, which is around 9.5 trillion km. If you want to be precise, the IAU regards a year as 365.25 days, making a lightyear 9,460,730,472,580,800m.”

How did NASA calculate the distance to the Sun?

“Aristarchus realized that when the Moon was exactly half illuminated, it formed a right triangle with the Earth and the Sun. Now knowing the distance between the Earth and the Moon, all he needed was the angle between the Moon and Sun at this moment to compute the distance of the Sun itself.”

How accurate is the distance to the Moon?

“From the ranging experiments, scientists know that the average distance between the centers of the Earth and the Moon is 385,000 kilometers with an accuracy of better than one part in 10 billion.”

How did Ptolemy measure the distance to the Moon?

“Ptolemy used a method of triangulation to find the distance to the moon. Two observers, both looking at the moon at the same time, are able to calculate its distance provided accurate date is taken at the time.”