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Welcome to the Space Studies Chalkboard!

Below, you will find many useful numbers and formulae utilized by aerospace and astronomy scientists. 

Astronomical Distances:

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  • Astronomical Unit (AU) = 1.496 x 10  km

  • Light Year (LY) ≈ 9.46 x 10    km

  • Parsec (pc) ≈ 3.09 x 10    km

  • Earth Radius (Er) ≈ 6,378 km

  • Average distance to Moon ≈ 238,900 m

                                                     ≈ ​384,400 km

                                                     ≈ 30 Er

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12

13

Temperature Scales and Conversions

Astronomical/Physical Constants:

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  • Speed of Light (c) = 299,792 km/s (in a vacuum)

                                       = 186,282 mph

                                       ≈ 3.00 x 10  km/s

  • Gravitational Constant (G) = 6.674  x 10    Nm /kg 

  • Planck's Constant (h) = 6.26 x 10    Js

  • Stefan Boltzman Constant (σ) = 5.670 x 10   W/m  K

  • Proton Mass = 1.673 x 10    kg

  • Electron Mass = 9.11 x 10    kg

  • Solar Mass (Ms) = 2 x 10    kg

  • Radius of Sun = 696,000 km

  • Luminosity of Sun = 3.8 x 10    W 

  • Mass of Earth = 5.97 x 10    kg

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Parallax

comparison-temperature-scales-min.png

Image Credit: thermal-engineering.org

Parallax.png

Image Credit: Dr. Terry Herter, Cornell University

The Electromagnetic Spectrum

EM_spectrum_compare_level1_lg.jpg

Image Credit: NASA's Imagine the Universe

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