Space, where objects are so far away from each other! How can we comprehend space let alone calculate how far objects are from each other? The numbers would be astronomical!!! Lucky for us astronomers and scientists got tired of doing these calculations too and derived a "short cut"...it's called THE LIGHT YEAR. This is distance traveled by light in one year. How long does it take light to travel in one year? That seems incomprehensible too... This is how scientists figured out how to answer this question: Earth is 93 million (93,000,000) miles from the Sun. A beam of light from the Sun takes 8.3 minutes or about 500 seconds to reach Earth. That's 186,000 miles per second! So! There are 60 seconds per minute x 60 minutes per hour=3,600 seconds per hour. 3,600 seconds per hour x 24 hours per day=86,400 seconds per day. 86,400 seconds per day x 365 days a year=31,536,000 seconds per year. 31,536,000 seconds per year x 186,000 miles per second=5,865,696,000,000 miles per year=1 light year in miles. 5,865,696,000,000 miles per year!!! How do you say that in English??? I thought the numbers would be easier? I imagine there was still some frustration among astronomers trying to punch these numbers out as they calculated the distances between the Sun and every celestial object in the Solar System. After some collaboration the scientists created a system that would help them with these humongous numbers. And they called it... Astronomical units. Or simply AU. Yes! Now astronomers know that the distance between Earth and the Sun is 1.00 astronomical unit. The miles between the Sun and Mars is 1.52 astronomical units, and the distance to Uranus from the Sun is 19.22 astronomical units. Isn't this so. much. easier? Since we know about Earth, it's size and distance from the Sun, one astronomical unit is the distance from Earth to the Sun. Knowing this we can measure distance in space using Earth to Sun distance. It's easier to comprehend and the numbers are so much smaller and easier to deal with.
Mercury: 0.387 AU Venus: 0.723 AU Earth: 1.000 AU Mars: 1.524 AU Jupiter: 5.203 AU Saturn: 9.582 AU Uranus: 19.201 AU Neptune: 30.047 AU Boom! There you have it! Accurate distances measured in space using astronomical units.
5 Comments
Jackson Baird
1/4/2019 03:43:21 pm
That's not G rated.
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caleb smith (7th grader)
1/5/2019 12:13:00 pm
that is really cool Mrs,talor
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OLIVER ROPER
1/5/2019 04:52:14 pm
Mr. Squilliamson/Williamson has one of those LIT easy buttons. he he he h heeh hehe heeheh eh heh
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Michael Mandaa
1/6/2019 03:13:56 pm
when your dad says your out of pizza rolls
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Zach
1/7/2019 07:29:09 am
That is a lot of math to figure out that out.
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Mrs. TaylorI love science! Everything about the world is interesting and never boring. I love to study plants, animals, insects, and people. My favorite subjects are my students who are the most unique organisms on the planet! Categories |