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Exploring Astronomical Distances: From Parallax to Parsecs

Discover the vast distances in space and how astronomers measure them, from nearby stars using parallax to distant stars with the inverse square law of light. Learn about light years, parsecs, and Astronomical Units in this fascinating exploration of cosmic dimensions.

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Exploring Astronomical Distances: From Parallax to Parsecs

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  1. Astronomical Distances

  2. Stars that seem to be close may actually be very far away from each other.

  3. The universe is immense in size • Astronomers use units and methods of measuring that we are not used to on Earth

  4. Parallax is used to measure the distance to nearby stars • Parallax: when objects appear to move or shift due to earth’s orbit • This method uses trigonometry • nearby stars = 300 light years or less

  5. Parallax Jan. draw this June

  6. Inverse square law of light is used for distant stars • the intensity of light falls off as the square of the distance from the source

  7. Light year is a unit of distance, NOT time • Light Year: the distance light travels in one year (9.5 trillion km!!!) • Kilometers are too small to use in astronomy • one light-year is equal to 9,500,000,000,000 kilometers.

  8. Light Year

  9. Parsec is used to measure greater distances between stars and galaxies • 1 parsec = 3.26 light years

  10. Astronomical Units (AUs) measure distances between planets (our solar system) • AU is the average distance between the Earth and Sun (1 AU) • 1 AU is about 150 million km

  11. Mercury is the closest at 0.39 AUs while Neptune is the farthest at 30.06 AUs

  12. draw this 1 AU Sun E

  13. 60 second summary

  14. Review#1 What is parallax used for? • to measure a star’s temperature • to measure a star’s distance from Earth • to measure a star’s mass • to measure a star’s magnitude

  15. parallax measures a star’s distance from earth

  16. Review#2 What does a light year measure? • temperature • time • distance • magnitude

  17. distance

  18. Reviw#3 An AU is used for distances between... • stars • galaxies • solar systems • planets

  19. planets

  20. Review#4 Which measurement is used for distant stars? • AU • parallax • inverse square law of light • light year

  21. inverse square law of light

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