How to weigh a star using a moon
Friday, October 15, 2010 - 14:10
in Astronomy & Space
How do astronomers weigh a star that's trillions of miles away and way too big to fit on a bathroom scale? In most cases they can't, although they can get a best estimate using computer models of stellar structure. An astrophysicist says that in special cases, we can weigh a star directly.