[ASK] How accurate modern astronomy today?

[benybee]

Hello, I'm curious about how accurate modern astronomy to calculating the position of all off that sky things!

(actually I want to know only how accuracy of moon and son's position calculated, but in general all of modern calculations)

and please show me the authentic source of your statement

thank you, know I only can access Internet from my cell phone so I don't have freedom to surf the Internet, so I ask you the experienced guys

again so many thanks..

Sent from my GT-S5660 using Tapatalk 2

[Kevdan]

Simple answer is - very very accurate, most goto mounts, and software like stellarium & cartes du ceil are exceptional. even phones have aps that show a very good accuracy.

It all depends on the information which is inputed into the aplications, the more accurat thngs like longitude and latitude and time and date etc the better they get.

hope this helps.

Kev.

[Anweniel]

I think your question is difficult really to answer. All things are relative and the universe is in motion - as are we.

If you are asking how accurately can an astronomer find an astronomical object in a telescope, then yes very accurately as relative to the field of view through the telescope even the closest and fastest moving of (extra solar) objects appear to remain in the same position in the sky over years/centuries/millenia. This predictability of position and the engineering of modern mounts and other equipment means astronomers can easily find and follow astronomical objects. Of course you can have the most advanced equipment available but its only as good as the user, and some without calibration will only be as accurate as the information you enter into it (e.g the time you enter into your handset etc).

If you are asking about physical distance between objects, well again you have to consider that everything is moving in respect to each other in an infinite number of planes and orbits. So in literal terms the accuracy of measurement is only as good as your accuracy in measurement of the time and the distance of object away from you. If you are using triangulation to measure distance then you will incur parallax errors so the larger the distance between the two measurements the less the error. Generally speaking any astronomical measurement you wish to make will be a VERY large (almost inconceivably large) and hence any errors incurred in measurement can be dramatically multiplied or pale in significance to the measurement! E.g a very distant quasar may be 2400000000light years away, since you won't be able to pull a tape measure across to it I guess you'll never be 100% sure of this! but the point is thats a really difficult distance to imagine but a 1% error is another incredibly large and equally as difficult to imagine distance. In juxtapose, the moon is approximately 384000km away and moving away from us a couple of inches a year I believe a small error in its measurement is not going to be hugely significant but is going to be dependent on when the measurement was taken also. Another example if you take the andromeda galaxy, its approaching us at approximately 100km/s, that's very quick! But considering the distance between it and our own galaxy ~ 2.5 million Light Years you could measure the distance in 1000 years time and still estimate its distance at approximately 2.5 million Light years!

In short I don't think there is a finite answer to your question as its more about perception and the effect of your measurement in particular of time at the instance of taking your measurement.

[Kevdan]

Distance is relative - as my wife said to me the first time I took my scope out - "why don't you move it up the garden ? you'll be closer"

Kev.

[Anweniel]

Lol

[faulksy]

Distance is relative - as my wife said to me the first time I took my scope out - "why don't you move it up the garden ? you'll be closer"

Kev.

:grin: