National Optical Astronomy Observatory

Lunar Eclipse Projects in Chile: Project Hipparchus-Aristarchus: Activity on the size and distance to the Sun

This is the activity that David Orellano created for the children in Chile to perform in the night of the lunar eclipse, Oct. 27, 2004. The activity was called Project Hipparchus-Aristarchus after two great Greek thinkers of antiquity. Hipparchus measured the relative distance to and size of the Sun. Aristarchus, through careful measurements of his own and archived data of the Babylonians, discovered the Earth's wobble and made predictions of future lunar eclipses. Their methods and outcomes were used by the children to measure the distance and size of the Moon.

Download the activity and worksheet

• Proyecto-Hiparco.pdf [317 KB]
• Ficha-de-Observacion.pdf [158 KB]