• About Science in School
  • About EIROforum
  • Submit an article
Science in School
Science in School
  • Understand
    • Recent research and science topics
      • Astronomy / space
      • Biology
      • Chemistry
      • Earth science
      • Engineering
      • General science
      • Health
      • History
      • Mathematics
      • Physics
      • News from the EIROs
      • Science and society
  • Inspire
    • People, events and resources
      • Advertorials
      • Career focus
      • Competitions and events
      • Education focus
      • Resource reviews
      • Science and society
      • Science miscellany
      • Scientist profiles
      • Teacher profiles
  • Teach
    • Activities and projects
      • Astronomy / space
      • Biology
      • Chemistry
      • Earth science
      • Engineering
      • General science
      • Health
      • History
      • Mathematics
      • Physics
      • Science and society
  • Archive
  • Login
  • Contact
issue 35
 -  03/05/2016

Mercury and Mars in May

By Hannah Voak

The month of May brings with it two different planetary wonders, allowing us to recreate calculations first made 300 years ago


Mercury transit, 8 November
2006.

Image courtesy of Mark
VandeWettering; image source:
Flickr 

The transit of Mercury and the opposition of Mars are two celestial events occurring this month. Why not use this opportunity to bring together mathematics and physics in the classroom? 

Transit of Mercury

On Monday 9th May you will be able see a small black dot slowly moving across the Sun –  that dot is the planet Mercury. Although Mercury passes between the Earth and Sun at least three times per year, exact alignment is rare, with an average of thirteen transits occurring every century.

To mark the event the European Space Agency (ESA) have launched a “Transit of Mercury Schools Challenge”. Students are challenged to recreate a historical experiment and collaborate with other European schools to calculate the distance between the Earth and the Sun. To do this they need to measure when the edge of the disc of mercury makes contact with the edge of the Sun and send their findings to ESA who will then share the data they receive. By using data from schools at different locations students should be able to calculate the distance from the Earth to the Sun.


Mars opposition, 26 June
2001, when Mars was
approximately 68 million km
from Earth.

Image courtesy of
Hubble Heritage; image source:
Flickr 

Opposition of Mars

Another planetary alignment is the opposition of Mars, which means that Mars will appear much brighter in the sky between now and Sunday 22nd May. Opposition means that Mars and the Sun are on directly opposite sides of Earth. On Sunday 22nd May Mars will  be at its closest possible distance to Earth and the size and brightness of Mars will be increased, making this the perfect opportunity to observe Mars.

In issue 35 we published an activity from the Parallax Network of schools to measure the distance from the Earth to the Moon. That network will be using the opposition of Mars to repeat the experiment to measure the Earth’s distance from the red planet. The only specific material necessary is a good camera to take photos of Mars and the sky. Students can then use the images to calculate the distance.

 

CC BY
  • Log in or register to post comments
Log in to post a comment

Issues

  • Current issue
  • Archive

Events - Teacher Training

ELLS virtual LearningLAB: ‘Taking a fresh look: teaching molecular biology techniques in the classroom



12 April to 2 May 2021

EMBL’s European Learning Laboratory for the Life Sciences invites secondary school science teachers to explore this essential area of biological research in a virtual training course - in English - entitled ‘Taking a fresh look: teaching molecular biology techniques in the classroom’. The course is free of charge and the workload is designed to fit around a busy teacher’s schedule. Application deadline: 28 March 2021.

Tools

  • Print
  • Share

Related articles

  • The Science Behind Medicines
  • The Third Man of the Double Helix, By Maurice Wilkins
  • Can You Feel the Force? Putting the Fizz Back into Physics, By Richard Hammond
  • Why Evolution is True, By Jerry A. Coyne
  • The Technology, Entertainment and Design (TED) website

Login / My account

Create new account
Forgot password


Contact us

Please contact us via our email address editor@scienceinschool.org.

  • More contact details

Get involved

  • Submit an article
  • Review articles
  • Translate articles

Support Science in School


EIROforum members:
CERN European Molecular Biology Laboratory European Space Agency European Southern Observatory
European Synchrotron Radiation Facility EUROfusion European XFEL Institut Laue-Langevin


EIROforum
Published and funded by EIROforum


  • About Science in School
  • About EIROforum
  • Imprint
  • Copyright
  • Safety note
  • Disclaimer
  • Archive
  • Donate
  • Contact
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
ISSN 1818-0361

CERN
European Molecular Biology Laboratory
European Space Agency
European Southern Observatory
European Synchrotron Radiation Facility
EUROfusion
European XFEL
Institut Laue-Langevin
EIROforum

Published and funded by EIROforum
  • About Science in School
  • About EIROforum
  • Imprint
  • Copyright
  • Safety note
  • Disclaimer
  • Archive
  • Donate
  • Contact
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
ISSN 1818-0361