... Bad Astronomy . Misconceptions . ... The Nine Planets . ... This is true, and so I have updated this page with a tidal force calculation. ... That way we can see right away how strong the other planets are; a gravity of 10 means the planet pulls on the Earth 10 times as much as the Moon does. ... So, in units of Moon gravity and tides, below are the forces on the Earth from rest of the planets (the data for masses and distances are from the wonderful page The Nine Planets ). ... 2008 Phil Plait. ...

... ARTICLE: The Adventurous Search For The Astronomical Unit . ... Kepler himself had suggested to use the rare occasions of Venus transiting (crossing) the solar disk to measure our distance to the planet. ... Due to the orbital inclination of Venus against the ecliptic of 3.5°, a Venus transit is so rare that it happens only at intervals of 121.5 years, 8 years, 105.5 years, 8 years and so on. ... Crabtree witnessing the transit of Venus 1639 . ... Transits of Venus - The Quest for the Solar Parallax...

... Local and Regional Coordinators, and OBSERVERS are needed for Friday night's spectacular Aldebaran Occultation and Graze Aldebaran is the brightest star, other than the Sun, that can be occulted by the Moon. ... Use your camcorder (or a borrowed camcorder) to record a strong local television station. ... Encourage other amateur astronomers, and other friends and relatives in the region of visibility to record the occultation with camcorders. ... This event is called an "occultation" by astronomers. ...

The low aspect ratio, or spherical tokamak Globus-M [1] has recently been built in a support of international spherical tokamak plasma investigation program. ... The survey to determine the work scope in diagnostic design for Globus-M is given in the paper. ... The next one is an advanced diagnostic set intended to supply the data on basic plasma parameters: electron temperature and density profiles, ion temperature, plasma composition, radiation profile, Zeffective. ... Magnetic Diagnostics. ...