Introduction

In this lab, you're going to observe how the stars, the sun, and the moon move throughout the night and over the course of several days or weeks. We make these measurements in terms of angles, and for this lab, it will be sufficient to use the following approximate measurements. Begin by holding your arm outstretched toward the part of the sky in which you're taking a measurement.

• If you stick out your thumb, the width of your thumbnail will be about 1 .
• If you close your fist and hold it so that it's wider in the horizontal direction, its width will be about 5 .
• If you spread your hand wide, the distance from the tip of your pinky to the tip of your thumb will be about 10 .

You can test this by looking at the bowl of the Big Dipper, which is almost exactly 10 across. You can compare this distance to the width of your closed fist (remember to keep your arm outstretched).