Angles
Astronomers use angles a lot to work out where things are in the sky. We can measure the size of an object in the sky and mark its position by using angles.
If we know how much of the sky an object covers (as an angle) and how far away it is - we can work out its actual size.
We often use measurements called arcminutes and arcseconds. The way we define each of these measurements is:
- there are 360 degrees in a circle.
- an arcminute is 1/60th of a degree.
- an arcsecond is 1/60th of an arcminute.
So that means there are 1,296,000 arcseconds in a circle (360 degrees × 60 arcminutes × 60 arcseconds).
Measure a Day on Jupiter
Dorothy Vaughan
Credit: Unknown author
Occupation: Mathematician and Human Computer
Year born: 1910
Research Areas: Computer Programming
Katherine Johnson
Credit: NASA
Occupation: Mathematician
Year born: 1918
Research Areas: Rocket Flightpaths, Trajectories, Orbital Mechanics
"I loved going to work every single day"