So, for example, your weight on the Moon is only 1/6 of what it is on the Earth, but your mass is the same. a planet) is nearby to provide a gravitational field. Note that weight and mass are not the same!Īn object with mass only has weight if another object (e.g. Mass also describes an object's resistance to a change in its motion ( inertia).Ĭonservation of mass is a fundamental law of nature it can neither be created or destroyed. Mass: a characteristic of an object which partially defines the force of gravity it feels (its weight). We will be using several fundamental physical quantities in this class:.Therefore, we will usually not specify more than 2 or 3 digits.ġ.4 Physical Quantities (Discovering the Universe, 5th ed., §I-2) Generally each subsequent non-zero digit in a number is less "well-known" or precise because it is harder to measure.This format is formally known as scientific notation. 5237, can be written more compactly as 5.237 x 10 3, and even more simply as 5.237 K. Numbers in between the powers of ten, e.g.A simple rule to determine a negative exponent is to count the number of places to the right of the decimal point, up to and including the first non-zero digit.The abbreviations on the right are simpler to use and are therefore very common.A simple rule to determine the exponent is to count the number of zeros.The exponent means that you are multiplying 10 together that many times, e.g.To describe the wide range of values that show up in astronomy, power-of-ten notation is used:ġ0 12 = 1,000,000,000,000 = trillion = tera = Tġ0 9 = 1,000,000,000 = billion = giga = G (commonly pronounced with both hard and soft "g")ġ0 3 = 1000 = thousand = kilo = K (officially lower case).Comparisons of different astronomical objects require the use of numbers, e.g.1.3 Numbers, Numbers, Everywhere (Discovering the Universe, 5th ed., §I-2) The scientific method ensures that astronomy is based on accurate, reproduceable theories. It has since developed into a sophisticated study of the fundamental laws of nature governing these phenomena. The nearest object is the star Proxima Centauri, the second nearest star to Earth after the Sun.Astronomy as a science began tens of thousands of years ago by tracking the motion of the Sun, Moon, planets, and stars. Nothing in space is at a distance of 1 Parallax from the Earth. An object with a parallax of 1 is 1 Parsec away. From the parallax, you can then calculate the distance. The shift in location is referred to as the parallax. If you look at an object in the distance, then close one eye and then the other, the object will seem to shift slightly. When objects are measured in space, they are measured by the shift in parallax. In Layman's Terms, hopefully, when measuring the parallax shift of an object in space, the shift is equivalent to 1. A Parsec represents the distance in space at which the Earth's orbit subtends an angle of one second of arc. So, what is a Parsec?Ī Parsec is a unit of distance. To get out of the nebula and to Savareen to convert the Coaxium ore before the Coaxium explodes, Han Solo plots the shortest but dangerous way out of the nebula which happens to be 12 parsecs thereby clearing up the 12 Parsecs mistake of the first film. The planet Kessel is deep within a nebula and contains large reserves of Coaxium ore which Han and his friends need. Solo - A Star Wars Anthology film tries to clear up what a parsec is and how the term was used. Those unfamiliar with space things would have just not given it a second thought. In the way the term was used in the film, it implied that a Parsec is a unit of time. Most people, the first time you probably heard the term Parsec is in the film A New Hope when Han Solo states that his ship, Millennium Falcon did the Kessel Run in 12 Parsecs.
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