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Which distance measurement is most useful in measuring the distance between stars?
Wiki User
∙ 13y ago
There are two in common use; the "light year", which is the distance that light travels in one year, and the "parsec". The parsec is a "parallax-second of arc", the distance that an object would be from Earth if it appears to be separated by one second of arc as viewed from one side of the Earth's orbit and from the other side of the Earth's orbit. The "parsec" is approximately equal to 3.26 light years.
For intergalactic distances, many astronomers use the "mega-parsec", one million parsecs distance, abbreviated as "Mpc".
Wiki User
∙ 13y ago
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Would a moon constellation map be helpful on the moon?
Using a star map could potentially be useful as we used the stars to navigate in the times before advanced technology. Since the distance between the Earth and the moon is tiny compared to the distance between stars the constellations you see from the moon are exactly the same ones you see from Earth.
What measurements do scientist use to measure stars?
Hi. It is a pleasure to help. If you mean the distance from the earth to the stars, astronomers use a technique called parallax which is a way to infer the distance to a star based on triangulation. Astronomers use a unit called the light-year, which is the distance travelled by the light in one year. Since light travels at a speed of 300,000 km/s, in one year light leaves behind a distance of 9.4605284 × 1015 meters. Some stars are only a few light- years away. Others are very far away, in the limits of the observable universe. If the astronomer wants to measure the distance to a very far away star, then parallax is no longer useful. Other techniques and properties are employed such as the Cepheids, which are a very particular class of stars in which the period of variation in their brightness is related to their distances. So by measuring the period, astronomers are able to infer the distance.Measuring distances to stars and to distant galaxies is one of the central problems in Astronomy. It is VERY important. Several research efforts are devoted to measuring distances. In fact, in the 1920's E. Hubble first measured the distance to other galaxies using cepheids. The Hubble Sapce Telescope still measures distances to distant galaxies using a variety of observational techniques.If you mean the measurement of the radius of a star, astronomers do that by knowing the details of the cameras used to photograph the star and the known distance to it. Sometimes studying the properties of the light emitted by stars it is possible to infer its radius based on the theory of stellar evolution.Prof. João Rodrigo LeãoRio Grande Federal University - BRAZIL
Why isn't a galaxy's size useful in determining it's distance from earth?
The only thing that can be directly observed is a galaxy's apparent size (angular size). Since galaxies come in different sizes, this can only give a rough idea of the galaxy's distance from Earth.
How can parallax be used to determine the distance to nearby stars?
The reciprocal of the parallax is taken. For example, if the stellar parallax is 1 second, the distance is 1/1 = 1 parsec; if the parallax is 0.1 second, the distance is 1/0.1 = 10 parsecs, etc.
What units are used to measure distances in the solar system?
well we use three main ones : Light years, parsecs and kilometers, but we usually only use kilometers for our inner solar system __________________ There is also the Astronomical Unit, AU, which is the average distance between the earth and the sun. A parsec is roughly 3.3 light years, and a light year is the distance covered by light in a vacuum in one earth year. um also the distance requires the sun. Since astronomers did not know where to start, they measured everything in the universe starting with the sun.
What is most useful for measuring the shortest distance between two places on the earth and path between them?
Globe
Why is using a light year useful for measuring stars?
Because the distance between stars is so great.
Which distance measurement is most useful on a planet?
penis
Which units of measurement would be most useful for measuring the length of a swimming pool?
Meters
How are distance time graphs useful?
they will show the variation between distance & time
What units measurement would be a most useful for measuring the volume of a sliced bread?
The best units would be millimetres for the length measurements and millilitres for the volume.
What distance measurement is most useful in the solar system?
Not sure whether it is in any way more "useful", but a common unit of measurement for distances within the Solar System is the AU.SI units, especially meters and kilometers, are also used, though.
Would measuring stars be useful for scientific notation?
You have it in reverse. Scientific notation is useful for measuring stars.
Why is the Breslow system of measuring the thickness of malignant melanoma the preferred method?
It turns out that the Breslow measurement is more reproducible and thus more useful; therefore, for purposes here, depth of penetration by absolute measurement (Breslow) is used in local staging.
Why are units of measurement useful?
Units of measurement provide a standard to measure mass, length etc.So, it is useful.
What do you use to measure small amounts?
small measurements That depends on what you are measuring. For mass, you may want to use an analytical balance. For volume, a buret or Eppendorf pipette would be useful. Like I said before, it is highly dependent on what your measuring and what the point of the measurement is.
What is a astronmical?
One Astronomical Unit is the average distance between the Sun and the Earth. It is a useful measurement, so that we can say that "Neptune is 30 AU from the Sun" instead of saying "Neptune is 30 times farther from the Sun than the Earth is".
