Stargazer astronomy group

Junior College Physics Department. Easter Holidays 2010

howard.j.zammit@um.edu.mt

Dingli cliffs radar dome

chapel

249,209,300 km 206,669,000 km MARS

SATURN 1,513,325,783 km

1,353,572,956 km

VENUS

108,942,109 km

107,476,259 km

MERCURY

69,816,900 km

46,001,200 km

Size comparison of terrestrial planets (left to right): Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars

CONSTELLATION OF

ORION

M42 Orion nebula

1,344 ± 20 ly

Betelgeuse

640 ly

Red supergiant

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/15/Redgiants.svg

Blue supergiant

700-900 light years

Sirius

is the brightest star in the night sky.

Binary system (2 stars)

8.6 ly

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/58/Gemini_constellation_map.png

Orange giant

65 l.y

Pleides star cluster

Approx 440 l.y

1000 stars

Diameter of cluster core 8 l.y

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e1/M45map.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a1/Taurus_constellation_map.png

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/72/Pleiades_Spitzer_big.jpg

Andromeda spiral galaxy M31

2,500,000 light years away

42 l.y

Polaris

430 ly

cassiopeia constellation

Capella

4 stars in 2 pairs

2of these stars are 10 times our sun

42.2 lyrs away

PROCYCON

Procyon forms one of the three vertices of the Winter Triangle, along with Sirius and Betelgeuse.

REGULUS 77.5 light years