The Meter Stick Model of the Solar System
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Quantity Symbol Value One Astronomical Unit 1 AU 1.50 × 10
Quantity Symbol Value One Astronomical Unit 1 AU 1:50 × 1011 m Speed of Light c 3:0 × 108 m=s One parsec 1 pc 3.26 Light Years One year 1 y ' π × 107 s One Light Year 1 ly 9:5 × 1015 m 6 Radius of Earth RE 6:4 × 10 m Radius of Sun R 6:95 × 108 m Gravitational Constant G 6:67 × 10−11m3=(kg s3) Part I. 1. Describe qualitatively the funny way that the planets move in the sky relative to the stars. Give a qualitative explanation as to why they move this way. 2. Draw a set of pictures approximately to scale showing the sun, the earth, the moon, α-centauri, and the milky way and the spacing between these objects. Give an ap- proximate size for all the objects you draw (for example example next to the moon put Rmoon ∼ 1700 km) and the distances between the objects that you draw. Indicate many times is one picture magnified relative to another. Important: More important than the size of these objects is the relative distance between these objects. Thus for instance you may wish to show the sun and the earth on the same graph, with the circles for the sun and the earth having the correct ratios relative to to the spacing between the sun and the earth. 3. A common unit of distance in Astronomy is a parsec. 1 pc ' 3:1 × 1016m ' 3:3 ly (a) Explain how such a curious unit of measure came to be defined. Why is it called parsec? (b) What is the distance to the nearest stars and how was this distance measured? 4. -
The Nearest Stars: a Guided Tour by Sherwood Harrington, Astronomical Society of the Pacific
www.astrosociety.org/uitc No. 5 - Spring 1986 © 1986, Astronomical Society of the Pacific, 390 Ashton Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94112. The Nearest Stars: A Guided Tour by Sherwood Harrington, Astronomical Society of the Pacific A tour through our stellar neighborhood As evening twilight fades during April and early May, a brilliant, blue-white star can be seen low in the sky toward the southwest. That star is called Sirius, and it is the brightest star in Earth's nighttime sky. Sirius looks so bright in part because it is a relatively powerful light producer; if our Sun were suddenly replaced by Sirius, our daylight on Earth would be more than 20 times as bright as it is now! But the other reason Sirius is so brilliant in our nighttime sky is that it is so close; Sirius is the nearest neighbor star to the Sun that can be seen with the unaided eye from the Northern Hemisphere. "Close'' in the interstellar realm, though, is a very relative term. If you were to model the Sun as a basketball, then our planet Earth would be about the size of an apple seed 30 yards away from it — and even the nearest other star (alpha Centauri, visible from the Southern Hemisphere) would be 6,000 miles away. Distances among the stars are so large that it is helpful to express them using the light-year — the distance light travels in one year — as a measuring unit. In this way of expressing distances, alpha Centauri is about four light-years away, and Sirius is about eight and a half light- years distant. -
CARMENES Input Catalogue of M Dwarfs IV. New Rotation Periods from Photometric Time Series
Astronomy & Astrophysics manuscript no. pk30 c ESO 2018 October 9, 2018 CARMENES input catalogue of M dwarfs IV. New rotation periods from photometric time series E. D´ıezAlonso1;2;3, J. A. Caballero4, D. Montes1, F. J. de Cos Juez2, S. Dreizler5, F. Dubois6, S. V. Jeffers5, S. Lalitha5, R. Naves7, A. Reiners5, I. Ribas8;9, S. Vanaverbeke10;6, P. J. Amado11, V. J. S. B´ejar12;13, M. Cort´es-Contreras4, E. Herrero8;9, D. Hidalgo12;13;1, M. K¨urster14, L. Logie6, A. Quirrenbach15, S. Rau6, W. Seifert15, P. Sch¨ofer5, and L. Tal-Or5;16 1 Departamento de Astrof´ısicay Ciencias de la Atm´osfera, Facultad de Ciencias F´ısicas,Universidad Complutense de Madrid, E-280140 Madrid, Spain; e-mail: [email protected] 2 Departamento de Explotaci´ony Prospecci´onde Minas, Escuela de Minas, Energ´ıay Materiales, Universidad de Oviedo, E-33003 Oviedo, Asturias, Spain 3 Observatorio Astron´omicoCarda, Villaviciosa, Asturias, Spain (MPC Z76) 4 Centro de Astrobiolog´ıa(CSIC-INTA), Campus ESAC, Camino Bajo del Castillo s/n, E-28692 Villanueva de la Ca~nada,Madrid, Spain 5 Institut f¨ur Astrophysik, Georg-August-Universit¨at G¨ottingen, Friedrich-Hund-Platz 1, D-37077 G¨ottingen, Germany 6 AstroLAB IRIS, Provinciaal Domein \De Palingbeek", Verbrandemolenstraat 5, B-8902 Zillebeke, Ieper, Belgium 7 Observatorio Astron´omicoNaves, Cabrils, Barcelona, Spain (MPC 213) 8 Institut de Ci`enciesde l'Espai (CSIC-IEEC), Campus UAB, c/ de Can Magrans s/n, E-08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain 9 Institut d'Estudis Espacials de Catalunya (IEEC), E-08034 Barcelona, Spain 10 -
100 Closest Stars Designation R.A
100 closest stars Designation R.A. Dec. Mag. Common Name 1 Gliese+Jahreis 551 14h30m –62°40’ 11.09 Proxima Centauri Gliese+Jahreis 559 14h40m –60°50’ 0.01, 1.34 Alpha Centauri A,B 2 Gliese+Jahreis 699 17h58m 4°42’ 9.53 Barnard’s Star 3 Gliese+Jahreis 406 10h56m 7°01’ 13.44 Wolf 359 4 Gliese+Jahreis 411 11h03m 35°58’ 7.47 Lalande 21185 5 Gliese+Jahreis 244 6h45m –16°49’ -1.43, 8.44 Sirius A,B 6 Gliese+Jahreis 65 1h39m –17°57’ 12.54, 12.99 BL Ceti, UV Ceti 7 Gliese+Jahreis 729 18h50m –23°50’ 10.43 Ross 154 8 Gliese+Jahreis 905 23h45m 44°11’ 12.29 Ross 248 9 Gliese+Jahreis 144 3h33m –9°28’ 3.73 Epsilon Eridani 10 Gliese+Jahreis 887 23h06m –35°51’ 7.34 Lacaille 9352 11 Gliese+Jahreis 447 11h48m 0°48’ 11.13 Ross 128 12 Gliese+Jahreis 866 22h39m –15°18’ 13.33, 13.27, 14.03 EZ Aquarii A,B,C 13 Gliese+Jahreis 280 7h39m 5°14’ 10.7 Procyon A,B 14 Gliese+Jahreis 820 21h07m 38°45’ 5.21, 6.03 61 Cygni A,B 15 Gliese+Jahreis 725 18h43m 59°38’ 8.90, 9.69 16 Gliese+Jahreis 15 0h18m 44°01’ 8.08, 11.06 GX Andromedae, GQ Andromedae 17 Gliese+Jahreis 845 22h03m –56°47’ 4.69 Epsilon Indi A,B,C 18 Gliese+Jahreis 1111 8h30m 26°47’ 14.78 DX Cancri 19 Gliese+Jahreis 71 1h44m –15°56’ 3.49 Tau Ceti 20 Gliese+Jahreis 1061 3h36m –44°31’ 13.09 21 Gliese+Jahreis 54.1 1h13m –17°00’ 12.02 YZ Ceti 22 Gliese+Jahreis 273 7h27m 5°14’ 9.86 Luyten’s Star 23 SO 0253+1652 2h53m 16°53’ 15.14 24 SCR 1845-6357 18h45m –63°58’ 17.40J 25 Gliese+Jahreis 191 5h12m –45°01’ 8.84 Kapteyn’s Star 26 Gliese+Jahreis 825 21h17m –38°52’ 6.67 AX Microscopii 27 Gliese+Jahreis 860 22h28m 57°42’ 9.79, -
Download the Search for New Planets
“VITAL ARTICLES ON SCIENCE/CREATION” September 1999 Impact #315 THE SEARCH FOR NEW PLANETS by Don DeYoung, Ph.D.* The nine solar system planets, from Mercury to Pluto, have been much-studied targets of the space age. In general, a planet is any massive object which orbits a star, in our case, the Sun. Some have questioned the status of Pluto, mainly because of its small size, but it remains a full-fledged planet. There is little evidence for additional solar planets beyond Pluto. Instead, attention has turned to extrasolar planets which may circle other stars. Intense competition has arisen among astronomers to detect such objects. Success insures media attention, journal publication, and continued research funding. The Interest in Planets Just one word explains the intense interest in new planets—life. Many scientists are convinced that we are not alone in space. Since life evolved on Earth, it must likewise have happened elsewhere, either on planets or their moons. The naïve assumption is that life will arise if we “just add water”: Earth-like planet + water → spontaneous life This equation is falsified by over a century of biological research showing the deep complexity of life. Scarcely is there a fact more certain than that matter does not spring into life on its own. Drake Equation Astronomer Frank Drake pioneered the Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence project, or SETI, in the 1960s. He also attempted to calculate the total number of planets with life. The Drake Equation in simplified form is: Total livable Probability of Planets with planets x evolution = evolved life *Don DeYoung, Ph.D., is an Adjunct Professor of Physics at ICR. -
Units, Conversations, and Scaling Giving Numbers Meaning and Context Author: Meagan White; Sean S
Units, Conversations, and Scaling Giving numbers meaning and context Author: Meagan White; Sean S. Lindsay Version 1.3 created August 2019 Learning Goals In this lab, students will • Learn about the metric system • Learn about the units used in science and astronomy • Learn about the units used to measure angles • Learn the two sky coordinate systems used by astronomers • Learn how to perform unit conversions • Learn how to use a spreadsheet for repeated calculations • Measure lengths to collect data used in next week’s lab: Scienctific Measurement Materials • Calculator • Microsoft Excel • String as a crude length measurement tool Pre-lab Questions 1. What is the celestial analog of latitude and longitude? 2. What quantity do the following metric prefixes indicate: Giga-, Mega-, kilo-, centi-, milli-, µicro-, and nano? 3. How many degrees is a Right Ascension “hour”; How many degrees are in an arcmin? Arcsec? 4. Use the “train-track” method to convert 20 ft to inches. 1. Background In any science class, including astronomy, there are important skills and concepts that students will need to use and understand before engaging in experiments and other lab exercises. A broad list of fundamental skills developed in today’s exercise includes: • Scientific units used throughout the international science community, as well as units specific to astronomy. • Unit conversion methods to convert between units for calculations, communication, and conceptualization. • Angular measurements and their use in astronomy. How they are measured, and the angular measurements specific to astronomy. This is important for astronomers coordinate systems, i.e., equatorial coordinates on the celestial sphere. • Familiarity with spreadsheet programs, such as Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets, or OpenOffice. -
Monday, November 13, 2017 WHAT DOES IT MEAN to BE HABITABLE? 8:15 A.M. MHRGC Salons ABCD 8:15 A.M. Jang-Condell H. * Welcome C
Monday, November 13, 2017 WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE HABITABLE? 8:15 a.m. MHRGC Salons ABCD 8:15 a.m. Jang-Condell H. * Welcome Chair: Stephen Kane 8:30 a.m. Forget F. * Turbet M. Selsis F. Leconte J. Definition and Characterization of the Habitable Zone [#4057] We review the concept of habitable zone (HZ), why it is useful, and how to characterize it. The HZ could be nicknamed the “Hunting Zone” because its primary objective is now to help astronomers plan observations. This has interesting consequences. 9:00 a.m. Rushby A. J. Johnson M. Mills B. J. W. Watson A. J. Claire M. W. Long Term Planetary Habitability and the Carbonate-Silicate Cycle [#4026] We develop a coupled carbonate-silicate and stellar evolution model to investigate the effect of planet size on the operation of the long-term carbon cycle, and determine that larger planets are generally warmer for a given incident flux. 9:20 a.m. Dong C. F. * Huang Z. G. Jin M. Lingam M. Ma Y. J. Toth G. van der Holst B. Airapetian V. Cohen O. Gombosi T. Are “Habitable” Exoplanets Really Habitable? A Perspective from Atmospheric Loss [#4021] We will discuss the impact of exoplanetary space weather on the climate and habitability, which offers fresh insights concerning the habitability of exoplanets, especially those orbiting M-dwarfs, such as Proxima b and the TRAPPIST-1 system. 9:40 a.m. Fisher T. M. * Walker S. I. Desch S. J. Hartnett H. E. Glaser S. Limitations of Primary Productivity on “Aqua Planets:” Implications for Detectability [#4109] While ocean-covered planets have been considered a strong candidate for the search for life, the lack of surface weathering may lead to phosphorus scarcity and low primary productivity, making aqua planet biospheres difficult to detect. -
Distances in the Solar System Are Often Measured in Astronomical Units (AU). One Astronomical Unit Is Defined As the Distance from Earth to the Sun
Distances in the solar system are often measured in astronomical units (AU). One astronomical unit is defined as the distance from Earth to the Sun. 1 AU equals about 150 million km (93 million miles). Table below shows the distance from the Sun to each planet in AU. The table shows how long it takes each planet to spin on its axis. It also shows how long it takes each planet to complete an orbit. Notice how slowly Venus rotates! A day on Venus is actually longer than a year on Venus! Distances to the Planets and Properties of Orbits Relative to Earth's Orbit Average Distance Length of Day (In Earth Length of Year (In Earth Planet from Sun (AU) Days) Years) Mercury 0.39 AU 56.84 days 0.24 years Venus 0.72 243.02 0.62 Earth 1.00 1.00 1.00 Mars 1.52 1.03 1.88 Jupiter 5.20 0.41 11.86 Saturn 9.54 0.43 29.46 Uranus 19.22 0.72 84.01 Neptune 30.06 0.67 164.8 The Role of Gravity Planets are held in their orbits by the force of gravity. What would happen without gravity? Imagine that you are swinging a ball on a string in a circular motion. Now let go of the string. The ball will fly away from you in a straight line. It was the string pulling on the ball that kept the ball moving in a circle. The motion of a planet is very similar to the ball on a strong. -
W359 E31 RS.Pdf
WOLF 359 "SÉCURITÉ" by Gabriel Urbina (Writer's Note: The following takes place on Day 864 of the Hephaestus Mission) INT. U.S.S. URANIA - FLIGHT DECK - 1400 HOURS We come in on the STEADY HUM of a ship's engine. There's various BEEPS and DINGS from a control console. Sharp-eared listeners might notice that things sound considerably sleeker and smoother than what we're used to. Someone TYPES into a console, and hits a SWITCH. There's a discrete burst of STATIC, followed by - JACOBI Sécurité, sécurité, sécurité. U.S.S. Hephaestus Station, this is the U.S.S. Urania. Be advised that we are on an intercept vector. Request you avoid any course corrections or exterior activity. Please advise your intentions. He hits a BUTTON. For a BEAT he just awaits the reply. JACOBI (CONT'D) Still no reply, sir. You really think someone's alive in there? I mean... look at that thing. It's only duct tape and sheer stubbornness keeping it together. KEPLER No. They're there. Rebroadcast, and transmit the command authentication codes. JACOBI Aye-aye. (hits the radio switch) Sécurité, sécurité, sécurité. U.S.S. Hephaestus, this is the U.S.S. Urania. I say again: we are on an approach vector to your current position. Authentication code: Victor-Uniform-Lima-Charlie- Alpha-November. Please advise your intentions. BEAT. And then - KRRRCH! MINKOWSKI (over radio receiver) U.S.S. Urania, this is Hephaestus Actual. Continue on current course, and use vector zero one decimal nine for your final approach. 2. JACOBI Copy that, Hephaestus Actual. -
Measuring the Astronomical Unit from Your Backyard Two Astronomers, Using Amateur Equipment, Determined the Scale of the Solar System to Better Than 1%
Measuring the Astronomical Unit from Your Backyard Two astronomers, using amateur equipment, determined the scale of the solar system to better than 1%. So can you. By Robert J. Vanderbei and Ruslan Belikov HERE ON EARTH we measure distances in millimeters and throughout the cosmos are based in some way on distances inches, kilometers and miles. In the wider solar system, to nearby stars. Determining the astronomical unit was as a more natural standard unit is the tUlronomical unit: the central an issue for astronomy in the 18th and 19th centu· mean distance from Earth to the Sun. The astronomical ries as determining the Hubble constant - a measure of unit (a.u.) equals 149,597,870.691 kilometers plus or minus the universe's expansion rate - was in the 20th. just 30 meters, or 92,955.807.267 international miles plus or Astronomers of a century and more ago devised various minus 100 feet, measuring from the Sun's center to Earth's ingenious methods for determining the a. u. In this article center. We have learned the a. u. so extraordinarily well by we'll describe a way to do it from your backyard - or more tracking spacecraft via radio as they traverse the solar sys precisely, from any place with a fairly unobstructed view tem, and by bouncing radar Signals off solar.system bodies toward the east and west horizons - using only amateur from Earth. But we used to know it much more poorly. equipment. The method repeats a historic experiment per This was a serious problem for many brancht:s of as formed by Scottish astronomer David Gill in the late 19th tronomy; the uncertain length of the astronomical unit led century. -
Guide for the Use of the International System of Units (SI)
Guide for the Use of the International System of Units (SI) m kg s cd SI mol K A NIST Special Publication 811 2008 Edition Ambler Thompson and Barry N. Taylor NIST Special Publication 811 2008 Edition Guide for the Use of the International System of Units (SI) Ambler Thompson Technology Services and Barry N. Taylor Physics Laboratory National Institute of Standards and Technology Gaithersburg, MD 20899 (Supersedes NIST Special Publication 811, 1995 Edition, April 1995) March 2008 U.S. Department of Commerce Carlos M. Gutierrez, Secretary National Institute of Standards and Technology James M. Turner, Acting Director National Institute of Standards and Technology Special Publication 811, 2008 Edition (Supersedes NIST Special Publication 811, April 1995 Edition) Natl. Inst. Stand. Technol. Spec. Publ. 811, 2008 Ed., 85 pages (March 2008; 2nd printing November 2008) CODEN: NSPUE3 Note on 2nd printing: This 2nd printing dated November 2008 of NIST SP811 corrects a number of minor typographical errors present in the 1st printing dated March 2008. Guide for the Use of the International System of Units (SI) Preface The International System of Units, universally abbreviated SI (from the French Le Système International d’Unités), is the modern metric system of measurement. Long the dominant measurement system used in science, the SI is becoming the dominant measurement system used in international commerce. The Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of August 1988 [Public Law (PL) 100-418] changed the name of the National Bureau of Standards (NBS) to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and gave to NIST the added task of helping U.S. -
Introduction to ASTR 565 Stellar Structure and Evolution
Introduction to ASTR 565 Stellar Structure and Evolution Jason Jackiewicz Department of Astronomy New Mexico State University August 22, 2019 Main goal Structure of stars Evolution of stars Applications to observations Overview of course Outline 1 Main goal 2 Structure of stars 3 Evolution of stars 4 Applications to observations 5 Overview of course Introduction to ASTR 565 Jason Jackiewicz Main goal Structure of stars Evolution of stars Applications to observations Overview of course 1 Main goal 2 Structure of stars 3 Evolution of stars 4 Applications to observations 5 Overview of course Introduction to ASTR 565 Jason Jackiewicz Main goal Structure of stars Evolution of stars Applications to observations Overview of course Order in the H-R Diagram!! Introduction to ASTR 565 Jason Jackiewicz Main goal Structure of stars Evolution of stars Applications to observations Overview of course Motivation: Understanding the H-R Diagram Introduction to ASTR 565 Jason Jackiewicz HRD (2) HRD (3) Main goal Structure of stars Evolution of stars Applications to observations Overview of course 1 Main goal 2 Structure of stars 3 Evolution of stars 4 Applications to observations 5 Overview of course Introduction to ASTR 565 Jason Jackiewicz Main goal Structure of stars Evolution of stars Applications to observations Overview of course Basic structure - highly non-linear solution Introduction to ASTR 565 Jason Jackiewicz Main goal Structure of stars Evolution of stars Applications to observations Overview of course Massive-star nuclear burning Introduction