What type of measuring unit would we need for distances across space?

How far is far? How fast is fast? Light Year How far is far? How fast is fast?

What Is It? A light year is the DISTANCE that light will travel, through a vacuum, in 1 year. This is not a unit of time, but a unit of distance. Be sure that students know this.

Calculate Seconds How many seconds are in a year? 31,557,600 s/yr 60 s 60 min 24 hr 365.25 days 1 min 1 hr 1 day 1 yr   Instruct students to draw a table and add numbers and units in the proper boxes. Inform them that they have to be set up so that the units will cancel. As you view this slide, units will cancel out. Without the units, students can simply multiply the numbers together. OR… Have students use a calculator to find how many seconds there are in a year. This value will calculate on most 4-function calculators.

What is the fastest speed we know? The Speed of Light

Speed of Light about 300,000 kilometers per second or 186,000 miles per second The fastest thing that we know of is light which travels at a speed of about 186,000 miles, or 300,000 kilometers per second in empty space. To get an idea of how fast this is, light can travel about seven times around Earth in one second!

Speed of Light To get an idea of how fast this is. . . light can travel about seven times around Earth in one second! The fastest thing that we know of is light which travels at a speed of about 186,000 miles, or 300,000 kilometers, per second in empty space. To get an idea of how fast this is, light can travel about seven times around Earth in one second!

Other Values One light year is approximately 5.88 trillion miles. The symbol for light year is “ly”. The miles value is for reference only. Students should know the abbreviation for light year (ly).

Why “ly”? Light years are used to measure the vast distances in space. In the universe, the kilometer measure is too small to use. In the universe, the kilometer measure is too small to use. For example, the distance to the next nearest big galaxy, the Andromeda Galaxy, is 21 quintillion km. That's 21,000,000,000,000,000,000 km. This is a number so large that it becomes hard to write, to relate to, and to use in calculations. Astronomers use other units of distance.

History Seen Every time you look at objects in the night sky or the Sun, the light from that object is old. You are looking at history. I

An Example It takes 8 light minutes for light leaving the Sun to reach the Earth. To put this in perspective, if you could drive from the surface of the Sun to the surface of the Earth, it would take you 180 years driving nonstop at 60 mph.

Example: Sirius Sirius, in the constellation Canis Major, is the sky’s brightest star. It is easy to find on winter and spring evenings. When you look at Sirius, you are looking back in time to see how Sirius looked 8 years ago. The light left the star 8 years ago. At some point, we may see the death or birth of a star long after the event occurred.

Conclusion (write this down) Sirius is 8 light years away from Earth. The light you are seeing tonight took 8 years to travel through space to reach Earth.

Distances in Space A Different Perspective http://janus.astro.umd.edu/astro/distance/ A Different Perspective http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BjHvwSvpOw