Dark Skies and Bright Ideas

An excerpt from Dark Skies and Bright Ideas)

*** ASTRONOMY WOWS! ***

Distance
Earth to Moon	1.25 light seconds
Earth to Sun	= 8 light minutes
Earth to Pluto	= 5 light hours and 20 light minutes
Earth to mid-Oort Cloud	= 1 light year
Earth to Proxima Centauri	= 4.3 light years (1 parsec)
Earth to Altair	= 16 light years
Earth to Deneb	= 3,200 light years

• one light year is 9.46 trillion kilometers!
  • That's 63,000 Astronomical Units!
  • And that's 1,600 times the size of our solar system!

• The fastest human-made spacecraft was Voyager 1, launched 1977. At a speed of 38,600 mph, in 2001 it was 11 light-hours (7.4 billion miles) from the sun. If it were aimed at Proxima Centauri, the trip would take almost 80,000 years.

• Note: The faster ion propulsion engine of Deep Space One travels about 46,500 mph and is more efficient, but doesn't have the initial thrust.

Time
1 million seconds	= 11 days
1 billion seconds	= 32 years
1 trillion seconds	= 30,000 years

This curriculum has been successfully field-tested on Earth. Please expect minor adjustments for equivalent results on other planets.

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Last revised: 2005 Dec 16