5 ms·
I presume you mean diameters, not radii. Solar radius = 700000km Mean distance of Earth from sun = 1AU = 1.5e8 km = 214.3 solar radii. From Earth, solar radiu
by DonaldFisk 7y ago
I presume you mean diameters, not radii.
Solar radius = 700000km
Mean distance of Earth from sun = 1AU = 1.5e8 km = 214.3 solar radii.
From Earth, solar radius = 0.25 degrees. 233 solar radii in 1 radian.
- OnACoffeeBreak 7y agoYep, I meant to write diameters. > From Earth, solar radius = 0.25 degrees. 233 solar radii in 1 radian. I don't understand this. I think I understand that the sun would take up 0.5 degrees of the "view" (I don't have a good word for this) when looked at from Earth, so radius is 0.25 degrees. But how does the second statement follow? I get that a radian is about 57.3 degrees, so 57.3 / 0.25 = 230, but why why does 1 radian make sense to use here?
- iclelland 7y agoAn arc that spans one radian of a circle's circumference has the same length as the radius. So if you imagine a connected line of 233 suns across the sky, spanning 57.3 degrees, the actual length of that line would be the same as the distance from your eyes to the sun.