SPACE MATHEMATICS WORKSHEET 1
Astronomical Units and light-years
Activity edited by Jonathan G. Fairman - August
1996
- Problem: An astronomicat unit (AU) is the average earth-sun
distance and is 1.49598 x 108 km, to six significant
figures. 1 mile = 1.61 km
- Find the earth-sun distance in
miles to three significant figures.
(answer)
- For each of the following planets is given the mean
distance from the sun in kilometers. Express these distances in
AU's, using three significant figures for each
result.
(answer)
Planet Distance Distance (km x 108) (AU's)
Mercury 0.579 (.387)
Venus 1.08 (.722)
Mars 2.27 (1.52)
Jupiter 7.78 (5.20)
Saturn 14.3 (9.56)
Uranus 28.7 (19.2)
Neptune 45.0 (30.1)
Pluto 59.1 (39.5)
- The light-year is the distance traveled by light during one
Earth year. To three significant digits, the speed of light is
3.00 x 105 km/s. Find the length of the light-year in
km's and in AU's, to 3
significant digits.
(answer)
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