Download Objective – I can describe the scale of size, distance between

Objective – I can describe the scale of size, distance between objects, and movement of objects in the universe
Size and Scale of the Universe Review Guide
1. I can identify the size of objects in the Universe from the smallest to the largest.
Size and Scale – From Smallest to Largest
You
Earth
Sun
865,000 miles in diameter; 8 light minutes & 0.00002 light years from Earth.
Solar System
Diameter – 7,347,000,000 miles across; 15 light hours & .0017 light years across.
Stars in the Milky Way
What the Sun might look like among the stars in the Milky Way Galaxy.
(Sun is about 26,000 light years from the Center of the Milky Way.)
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Objective – I can describe the scale of size, distance between objects, and movement of objects in the universe
Sun
Milky Way – Diameter = about 100,000 light years
Solar System diameter = .0017 [17 thousandths] light years;
Local Group of Galaxies = Spread over 10,000,000 light years
Milky Way Galaxy = about 100,000 light years across
Solar System diameter = .0017 [17 thousandths] light years;
Virgo Galactic Supercluster – Diameter about 110,000,000 light years)
(Galactic Supercluster diameter 1,100 times larger than Milky Way; almost 65,000,000,000,000 [trillion] times the
Solar System diameter)
Local Group of Galaxies = Spread over 10,000,000 light years
Milky Way Galaxy = about 100,000 light years across
Solar System diameter = .0017 [17 thousandths] light years;
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Objective – I can describe the scale of size, distance between objects, and movement of objects in the universe
The Universe – Diameter = 93,000,000,000 light years
(Note – The farthest we can see in any direction is 13,500,000,000 light years. We call this the visual universe. Since
the universe is expanding the entire 13,500,000,000 years, the actual size of the universe is over 64,000,000,000 light
years!)
(Universe diameter at least 250 time supercluster diameter; 270,000 times larger than Milky Way; almost
16,000,000,000,000,000[quadrillion] times the Solar System diameter)
The Universe – Diameter = 27,000,000,000 light years
Virgo Galactic Supercluster – Diameter about 110,000,000 light years
Local Group of Galaxies = Spread over 10,000,000 light years
Milky Way Galaxy = about 100,000 light years across
Solar System diameter = .0017 [17 thousandths] light years;
2. I can identify basic facts about the universe.
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Space is huge!
Space is made up mostly of empty space.
All the stuff in the galaxy is very small compared to the empty space.
If two galaxies collided, there is so much space between the stars, no stars would collide.
The Solar System is very, very small compared to the Milky Way.
The Milky Way is very, very small compared to the Local Group.
The Local Group is very, very small compared to the Virgo Galactic Supercluster.
Everything is very, very small compared to the universe.
The Universe in Numbers
The Milky Way is 100,000 light-years across and 2,000 light years thick at its center.
Our Sun is 30,000 light-years from the center of the Milky Way.
There are more than 100,000,000,000 (one hundred billion) galaxies in the universe.
Each galaxy has between 100,000,000,000 and 300,000,000,000 (three hundred billion)
The Andromeda Galaxy is the nearest galaxy to ours.
It is 2,900,000 light-years away and 150,000 light-years across.
The Local Group contains 50 galaxies and is 5,000,000 light-years across.
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Objective – I can describe the scale of size, distance between objects, and movement of objects in the universe
3. I can use the speed of light as a measuring standard to describe the distances to objects
in the universe.
The Speed of Light
186,000 miles per second
300,000 kilometers per second
11,160,000 miles per minute
18,000,000 kilometers per minute
69,600,000 miles per hour
1,080,000,000 kilometers per hour
16,070,400,000 miles per day
25,920,000,000 kilometers per day
112,492,800,000 miles per week
181,440,000,000 kilometers per week
6,000,000,000,000 miles per year
9,650,060,000,000.000 kilometers per year
Light Distance from the Sun
Light Distance of Planets from the Sun
Mercury
Venus
Earth
Mars
3.2 light minutes
6 light minutes
8.3 light minutes
12.7 light minutes
Light Distance of Planets from the Sun
Jupiter
Saturn
Uranus
Neptune
43.3 light minutes
1.5 light hours
2.7 light hours
4.2 light hours
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Objective – I can describe the scale of size, distance between objects, and movement of objects in the universe
3. I can compare distances between planets using Astronomical Units (AU).
Using the data in the Planetary Data Table & the Astronomical Unit [AU] to complete the table below.
Planet
Distance
Distance
(miles)
(AUs)
Mercury
36,000,000
0.4
Venus
67,200,000
0.7
Earth
93,000,000
1
Mars
141,000,000
1.5
Jupiter
484,000,000
5.2
Saturn
886,700,000
9.5
Uranus
1,784,000,000
19.1
Neptune 2,794,400,000
39.5
4. I can compare sizes and distances between objects in the Solar System.
Earth
Mercury
Solar System to Scale
Neptune
Uranus
Saturn
aturn
Jupiter
Mars
Venus
Sun
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Objective – I can describe the scale of size, distance between objects, and movement of objects in the universe
5. I can order the planets in the Solar System from largest to smallest.
Planet
Diameter
(Miles)
Mercury
Venus
3,031
7,521
Earth
7,926
Mars
Jupiter
Saturn
Uranus
Neptune
4,222 88,845 74,900 31,763 30,779
Solar System by Planet Size (Largest to the Smallest)
What if the largest planet was closest to the Sun and the smallest was farthest? What would the Solar System look
like? In the table below, order the planets from largest to smallest – largest closest to the Sun, smallest farthest from
the Sun.
8. Mercury
6. Venus
4. Neptune
2. Saturn
Sun
7. Mars
5. Earth
3. Uranus
1. Jupiter
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