A practical experiment is described to estimate the distance to a star using simple equipment, suitable for secondary or undergraduate students. The brightness of the star is visually matched to a miniature filament lamp, and its distance inferred from the inverse square law. Students gain an appreciation of astronomical units and practice in manipulating powers of 10. By additionally applying knowledge of the H-R diagram and black body radiation, accuracy can be improved to one order of magnitude.

中文翻译：

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用灯泡估算恒星距离

描述了一个实际实验，使用简单的设备估计到一颗恒星的距离，适合中学生或本科生。恒星的亮度在视觉上与微型白炽灯相匹配，其距离从平方反比定律推断出来。学生了解天文单位并练习操作 10 的幂。通过额外应用 HR 图和黑体辐射的知识，精度可以提高一个数量级。