Astronomy Notes / Units of Measurements in Astronomy

 Astronomy Notes / Units of Measurements in Astronomy

 Astronomy Notes / Units of Measurements in Astronomy

UNITS OF MEASUREMENTS IN ASTRONOMY

1.      Astronomical Unit

·         The mean distance between the earth and the sun and is estimated to be 150 million kilometers.

·         Astronomical Unit is used in the distance measurement of solar system

·         A light year = 60000 astronomical units

2.      Light Year

·         The distance travelled by light in one year at the speed of about 300000 km/second.

·         Used to measure the distance between stars, galaxies etc….

3.      Parsee

·         A unit of distance equal to 3.26 light years

·         One kiloparsec = 3000 light years

·         1 mega parsec = 1000 kiloparsec

4.      Parallax

·         Unit used for calculating the distance of nearest objects within 15000 light years.

5.      Lephied Variables

·         Used to measure the distance of objects up to 10 million light years.

6.      Cosmic Years

·         The period by which the sun completes one revolution round the galactic centre of milky way.

1 Cosmic Year = 250 Million years

 Astronomy Notes / Units of Measurements in Astronomy