Introduction to starry night lab worksheet Pleiades information 1)
What is the distance of the pleiades open cluster from earth in light years? - 430 light years 2)
What is the diameter of the pleiades open cluster in light years? - 15.1 light years 3)
Without using any measurement tools look at the image of the Pleiades cluster on your screen, in particular look at the 3 stars Merope, Alcyone and Maia. Based on this two dimensional view of the stars, which star (Alcyone or Maia) appears closer to the star Merope? (answer is complete sentences) - From the two dimensional view, it looks as though Alcyone is closer to Merope. Return to the instructions document to set up the program before attempting to answer the following questions. Pleiades Measurements Fill in the table of star distances from the star Merope. Now look at the distances from the table you completed. Which star (Alcyone or Maia) is closer to Merope and by how many light years? (answer in complete sentences) - After collecting the distances in light years, Maia is closer to Merope with a distance of 4.26 light years. Explain why the distance measured is so different from how the stars appear in the image. (Think about what the measurement tool is actually measuring compared to what you can see looking at the screen.) (answer in complete sentences) - Our view is two dimensional, while the measurement tool can measure through the third dimension to get a more accurate description of how far apart the stars truly are. Star name
Distance from Merope (ly)
Taygeta
29.4 ly
Celaeno
4.45 ly
Electra
24.7 ly
Maia
4.26 ly
Asterope
9.17 ly
Alcyone
23.1 ly
