a bit of cosmic distances


Degrees, minutes, seconds ... We always hear about it when it comes to celestial events and distances in the sky. 5, 10 degrees or 25 minutes - a lot or a little? Let's try to figure out what it is and how easy it is to understand what exactly is at stake.
The basis of this construction - the entire celestial sphere, the circle of which - 360 degrees. To measure smaller distances at our disposal, there is always a wonderful device - our own hands! The maximum pull out and lift a little finger. The width of the tip of the little finger at arm's length - approximately 1 degree. This is two times larger than the apparent diameter of the sun or moon. If you need to find an object located in degrees from the landmark (eg Jupiter), just pull out and position the raised little finger next to Jupiter. How to measure other distances shown in the illustration.
The great thing about this method - that it will work regardless of your age and gender because the arm length is proportional to the size of your body!