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    Measuring Distance in Space

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    To measure vast distances in space, astronomers use light years instead of astronomical units (AU). A light year is defined as the distance that light travels in one Earth year, which is approximately 9.46 trillion kilometers. The nearest star to Earth, Proxima Centauri, is 4.2 light years away, which equates to about 42 trillion kilometers and is a more practical unit than AU for such long distances. Light seconds and hours are also used to measure smaller distances like from the Earth to the sun or moon.

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    Measuring Distance in Space

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    18118
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    To measure vast distances in space, astronomers use light years instead of astronomical units (AU). A light year is defined as the distance that light travels in one Earth year, which is approximately 9.46 trillion kilometers. The nearest star to Earth, Proxima Centauri, is 4.2 light years away, which equates to about 42 trillion kilometers and is a more practical unit than AU for such long distances. Light seconds and hours are also used to measure smaller distances like from the Earth to the sun or moon.

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    To measure vast distances in space, astronomers use light years instead of astronomical units (AU). A light year is defined as the distance that light travels in one Earth year, which is approximately 9.46 trillion kilometers. The nearest star to Earth, Proxima Centauri, is 4.2 light years away, which equates to about 42 trillion kilometers and is a more practical unit than AU for such long distances. Light seconds and hours are also used to measure smaller distances like from the Earth to the sun or moon.

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    4 views5 pages

    Measuring Distance in Space

    Uploaded by

    18118
    To measure vast distances in space, astronomers use light years instead of astronomical units (AU). A light year is defined as the distance that light travels in one Earth year, which is approximately 9.46 trillion kilometers. The nearest star to Earth, Proxima Centauri, is 4.2 light years away, which equates to about 42 trillion kilometers and is a more practical unit than AU for such long distances. Light seconds and hours are also used to measure smaller distances like from the Earth to the sun or moon.

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    Measuring distance in space

    Light Years, Hours, Minutes and Seconds


    The average distance between the sun and the Earth
    Is 149 600 000 km. This distance, rounded off to 150 000 000 km, is
    called an Astronomical Unit (AU). Astronomical Units are used to
    measure distances in the solar system. However, to measure longer
    distances in space, astronomers use light years.
    Facts about light years:
    ● The term light year is often used incorrectly because it includes the word “year”,
    which is a unit of time and not distance.
    ● A light year is the distance that light travels in a single Earth year. This is equal to 63
    239 AU. If you multiply 63 239 by 150 000 000 you will get an idea of the huge
    distance in space. This is still manageable. However, measuring AU is not practical
    for the next closest star, Proxima Centauri.
    ● The star called Proxima Centauri is the nearest easily visible star to the sun. Proxima
    Centauri is 42 000 000 000 000 km away from the Earth.
    ● continue...
    Continue…
    ● The light year was invented to help deal with the vast distances in space. In km’s, a
    light year is equal to about 10 trillion km’s or 10 000 000 000 000 km. Proxima
    centauri is therefore 4,2 light years away from the Earth or 42 trillion km’s away.
    This is much easier to express than if we were using AU.
    ● The sun is eight light minutes away from the Earth. Each light minute is
    approximately 18 million km’s. One light minute is equivalent to 60 light seconds.
    This means that the sun is approximately 500 light seconds away. A light second is
    therefore much smaller than an AU. Our moon is 1,3 light seconds away.
    ● The distance for a light hour is approximately one billion km’s.
    Do revision column in your books...

    Column A Column B

    1. Proxima Centauri A. A collection of billions of stars

    2. Galaxy B. The study of the stars and planets

    3. Light years C. The nearest star to Earth

    4. 300 000 kilometers per second D. 4,2 light years away from Earth

    5. Astronomy E. The distance that light travels in a year

    6. Solar system F. Any huge ball of hot gas, releasing heat and gas

    7. Stars G.A star with planets and other objects orbiting around
    it

    8. Sun H. The speed of light

    9. Proxima Centauri I.Distance between the sun and Earth

    10. One AU J. Third closest star

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