Constellations and Stellar Distances PDF

Constellations and Stellar Distances Copy Me!  Unit Objective ⋆ Predictable phenomena on Earth, including seasons and eclipses, are caused by the relative positions of the sun, Earth and the moon 2 Lesson Objective Success Cr...

Constellations and Stellar Distances Copy Me!  Unit Objective ⋆ Predictable phenomena on Earth, including seasons and eclipses, are caused by the relative positions of the sun, Earth and the moon 2 Lesson Objective Success Criteria ⋆ Understand that the ⋆ Identify star position of stars can constellations make observable images ⋆ Explain what an Astronomical Unit is ⋆ Understand that distances in the ⋆ Explain why we use universe are measured Astronomical Units to differently than Earthly measure distance in measurements space 3 Copy Me!  Constellations ⋆ Made up of a collection of stars ⋆ Creates lines which can be interpreted into shapes/figures ⋆ Usually named after mythological figures ⋆ Very useful for navigation in early global transport ages ⋆ Constellations differ between northern and southern hemispheres 4 Copy Me! 5  Constellations ⋆ Constellations visible in different hemispheres are called circumpolar constellations ⋆ Some constellations are visible to the whole world ⋆ Located at the equator ⋆ 12 constellations which make up the Western zodiac 6 Copy Me! 7  Stellar Distance ⋆ Distances in space are very large ⋆ Sometimes in the billions of km’s ⋆ There are two ways that distance in space is measured ⋆ Astronomical unit (AU) ⋆ Light years 8 Copy Me!  Astronomical Unit (AU) ⋆ Is the distance between the Earth and the Sun ⋆ 150,000,000km ⋆ This unit of measurement is commonly used to denote distances within our own solar system 9 Copy Me!  Astronomical Unit (AU) ⋆ Example: Mercury is 47,200,000km from the Sun. So to calculate the distance in AU we divide by the distance of Earth to the Sun. 10 Copy Me!  Light Years (l.y.) ⋆ To measure distances throughout the remainder of the universe, light years are used ⋆ A light year is the distance travelled if a single photon travelled in a straight line for an entire Earth year 11 Copy Me!  Light Years (l.y.) ⋆ Light travels at 300,000,000m/s ⋆ There is and average of 31,536,000 seconds in an Earth year ⋆ This means that a light year (multiplying speed of light by time of Earth year) is 9,460,800,000,000,000m ⋆ Or 9.46 trillion km 12 Copy Me! 13 14