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21 February 2009 Erotosthenes Project - Method 4 (Werner Schmidt Observatory) For those of us who wish to confine the measurement of the Earth diameter to actions within the boundaries of Cape Cod, this method has the potential to give almost an order of magnitude more accuracy than other methods. The key advantage is that the method is relatively immune to error due to atmospheric refraction. Measuring the parallax offset of stars relative to the Moon is only affected by the slight difference in refraction over a small angle. The major source of error when taking these measurements is the granularity of the CCD chip used with the Werner Schmidt Observatory (WSO) telescope. Theory of the approach: Short version: Examine the parallax of stars near the Moon due to the combination of the Earth orbital motion and the Earth rotation. Null out the effects of Earth orbital motion. Extrapolate the parallax angular motion of stars due to the rotation of the Earth during transit of Moon as would be seen by an observer on the Earth equator. Measure a base line on the Cape. Determine the difference parallax angle of a star as seen from each end of that base line. Use the base line length and the parallax of a star to calculate the distance of the Moon. Use the distance to the Moon and angular motion at equator to determine velocity at equator. Sum the velocity for 24 hours to determine circumference of Earth. Divide by pi to determine the Earth diameter. Picture 1 – Parallax distance to Moon – Not to scale Long version: We know the orbit of the Moon around the Earth to a reasonable degree of accuracy. The semi-major axis of the Moon’s orbit is 238,866 mi and the eccentricity is only 0.05490. The Moon appears to move in front of the celestial sphere (as it would be seen from the Earth center) at almost constant angular velocity and distance relative to the Earth center. This ranges from about 28 to 40 seconds of arc per hour but changes less than ? second