Let's say that I observe Jupiter's moons through a telescope 3 nights in a row. After each viewing I sketch what I saw. What I have is Jupiter and four other dots plotted on a piece of paper for every night. Is there any way to tell which dot on my first sketch is the same dot on my second and third sketch?
I'm trying to determine the orbital periods of the moons, WITHOUT any aids. Of course, I COULD just look up the positions of the moons on the internet, but let's assume this is not an option.
2007-09-22 09:49:29 · 3 answers · asked by lenny_talarico 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
I did something similar to this with my telescope a few years ago. You can see significant movement of the inner two over the course of one night. This will help you predict where each moon will be after X number of hours.
Next night you come back and observe again, over several hours. Then you can watch on subsequent nights and get the details on their periods. After four or five days, you would have been able to catch each moon at its greatest elongation from the planet, which will give you the orbital diameters for all the moons. Remember, Io and Europa will reveal their orbital periods in the first couple of days, so the remaining two will not be that difficult to identify.
2007-09-22 09:55:15 · answer #1 · answered by Brant 7 · 3⤊ 0⤋
I would recommend looking twice a night: once early, and another time later. The reason is that the inner moons move significantly over the course of a night. Also, you probably want to go over more than just three nights. Try about two weeks. Then, it would be a lot easier to tell which is which.
2007-09-22 15:56:56 · answer #2 · answered by mathematician 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Yes it is possible. Since it takes many days for each moon to complete an orbit, you can assume the dot closest to where there was a dot last night is the same moon.
2007-09-22 09:56:24 · answer #3 · answered by campbelp2002 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋