How do astronomers measure distance
Presentation
•
Science
•
3rd Grade
•
Easy
+6
Standards-aligned
Shaun'de Jones
Used 4+ times
FREE Resource
10 Slides • 7 Questions
1
How do astronomers measure distance
2
Have you ever measured anything?
Rulers
Tape measures
Yardsticks
3
Open Ended
4
Measuring Distances
Most distances on the Earth can be measured in meters or kilometers.
How would you measure the distance from the Earth to the stars?
5
Measuring Distances
You might use kilometers as a unit of measurement. However, astronomers have found that the distance to even the nearest start is too great to measure in kilometers.
The distances are so great that the numbers are too large to work with easily.
6
Proxima Centauri
This is the closest star to Earth, other than the sun. It is 40,000,000,000,000 km (forty trillion) from the Earth.
As you can see this is a very large number so astronomers had to create their own units to measure distances in space.
7
Open Ended
8
Multiple Choice
9
Light Year (To Infinity and Beyond)
Astronomers measure the distance to an object in space in light year.
A light year is equal to the distance light travels in one year.
Light travels through space at a speed of 300,000 km/sec.
10
Light years
One light year is equal to almost 10 trillion km. the light from the sun reaches the earth in a little more than 8 minutes
Light from the North star, Polaris, takes about 300 years to reach the Earth.
11
Open Ended
12
Multiple Choice
13
Multiple Choice
14
Astronomical Units
One of the units astronomers is equal to the distance from the Earth to the Sun.
15
Poll
16
Astronomical Units
The sun is actually 150 million km from Earth.
Astronomers call this distance and astronomical unit.
1 astronomical unit or 1 AU is equal to 150 million km.
17
Distance of Planets from the Sun in AU
How do astronomers measure distance
Show answer
Auto Play
Slide 1 / 17
SLIDE
