 |
Haggart
Astronomical Observatory Home: http://depts.clackamas.edu/haggart lookup@clackamas.edu |
How Far Is It To...? Celestial Objects from Near to Far
|
Light Distances: the distance light travels (at 300,000 km per second)
in the given unit of time.
For example, one light year (ly) is the distance light travels in one year,
about 10 trillion kilometers.
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Objects in our Solar System
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|
Object
|
Distance (km)
|
Light-distance
|
| the Moon |
384,000
|
1.3 light-seconds
|
| Venus |
38,000,000 - 261,000,000
|
2 -14 light-minutes
|
| Mars |
56,000,000 - 401,000,000
|
3 - 22 light-minutes
|
| Mercury |
77,000,000 - 222,000,000
|
4- 12 light-minutes
|
| the Sun |
147,000,000 - 152,000,000
|
8.3 light-minutes
|
| Inner Asteroid Belt |
420,000,000
|
23 light-minutes
|
| Outer Asteroid Belt |
480,000,000
|
27 light-minutes
|
| Jupiter |
589,000,000 - 968,000,000 |
33 - 54 light-minutes
|
| Saturn |
1,196,000,000 - 1,659,000,000
|
1.1 - 1.5 light-hours
|
| Uranus |
2,582,000,000 - 3,157,000,000
|
2.4 - 2.9 light-hours
|
| Neptune |
4,306,000,000 - 4,687,000,000
|
4.0 - 4.3 light-hours
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| Pluto |
4,294,000,000 - 7,533,000,000
|
4.0 - 7.0 light-hours
|
| Kuiper belt |
12,000,000,000 - 15,000,000,000
|
11 - 13.9 light-hours
|
| Oort cloud |
7,500,000,000,000 - 15,000,000,000,000
|
289 - 579 light-days
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Solar system distances from NASA website: http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/planetfact.html
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Stars,
Open Clusters, and Nebulae
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| Object | Distance (ly) |
The light we see left this object ...
|
| Sirius |
9 ly
|
Who was President?
|
| Procyon |
11 ly
|
How old were you?
|
| Altair |
17 ly
|
How old were you?
|
| Vega |
25 ly
|
How old were your parents?
|
| Fomalhaut |
25 ly
|
How old were your parents?
|
| Pollux |
34 ly
|
1971 - What do you remember?
|
| Arcturus |
37 ly
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1968 - What do you remember?
|
| Capella |
42 ly
|
1963 - How old were your grandparents?
|
| Aldebaran |
65 ly
|
1940 - World War II was raging
|
| Regulus |
77 ly
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1928 - The Great Depression was about to start
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| Spica |
262 ly
|
1743 - U.S. colonial period
|
| M45: Pleiades |
380 ly
|
1625 -
|
| Betelgeuse |
522 ly
|
1483 -
|
| M44: Beehive |
600 ly
|
1405 -
|
| Antares |
604 ly
|
1401 -
|
| Rigel |
773 ly
|
1232 -
|
| Dumbbell Nebula (M27) |
1,250 ly
|
755 -
|
| Deneb |
1,467 ly
|
538
|
| M6 (Butterfly Cluster) |
1,600 ly
|
400
|
| Orion Nebula (M42) |
1,600 ly
|
400
|
| Ring Nebula (M57) |
2,300 ly
|
300 BC
|
| Little Dumbbell Nebula (M76) |
3,400 ly
|
1400 BC
|
| M38 ("Pi") |
4,200 ly
|
2200 BC
|
| M26 |
5,000 ly
|
3000 BC
|
| Lagoon Nebula (M8) |
5,200 ly
|
3200 BC
|
| M11: Wild Duck |
6,000 ly
|
4000 BC
|
|
Crab Nebula (M1) |
6,300 ly
|
4300 BC
|
| NGC 869: Double |
7,000 ly
|
5000 BC
|
| NGC 457 ("Owl" or "E.T.") |
8,000 ly
|
6000 BC
|
| Globular Clusters | ||
| Object | Distance (ly) | When the light we see left this object... |
| M22 (Sagittarius) |
10,400 ly
|
|
| M55 |
17,300 ly
|
|
| Hercules Cluster (M13) |
25,100 ly
|
|
| M15 |
33,600 ly
|
|
| M79 |
42,100 ly
|
|
| M53 |
58,000 ly
|
|
| M54 |
87,400 ly
|
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Beyond Our Galaxy
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||
| Galaxy | Distance (ly) | When the light we see left this object... |
| M31 ("Andromeda") |
2,900,000
ly
|
Cenozoic Era, Pliocene Epoch |
| M81 |
12,000,000
ly
|
Cenozoic Era, Miocene Epoch |
| M101 ("Pinwheel") |
27,000,000
ly
|
Cenozoic Era, Oligocene Epoch |
| M51 ("Whirlpool") |
37,000,000
ly
|
Cenozoic Era, Eocene Epoch |
| M104 ("Sombrero") |
50,000,000
ly
|
Cenozoic Era, Eocene Epoch |
| M60 |
60,000,000
ly
|
Cenozoic Era, Paleocene Epoch Pangaea was beginning to break up. |