What unit would a scientist use to measure a large distance?

Answer 1

In the boundaries of a solar system, they would typically use the unit of AU, which is an abbreviation for Astronomical Unit. 1 AU is the distance between the Earth and the Sun.

When measuring the distance between solar systems, stars, large stellar structures, they would use light years, since the distance between them takes even light a long time to span.

Answer 2

Answer from a question found on Answers.com

What_scientific_instruments_are_used_to_measure_distance

Thanks to Special:Contributionsand User:Dfoofnikthey give you the answer.

Answer 3

In astronomy:

1. the most commonly used measures of distance are the light year, parsec and astronomical unit.
2. An astronomical unit (A.U.) is the average distance between the Earth and the Sun, which is about 93 million miles or 150 million kilometers. Astronomical units are usually used to measure distances within our solar system. For example, the planet Mercury is about 1/3 of an A.U. from the Sun, while the farthest planet, Pluto, is about 40 A.U. from the Sun (thats 40 times as far away from the Sun as the Earth is).
3. Most objects in space are so far away, that using a relatively small unit of distance, such as an astronomical unit, is not practical. Instead, astronomers measure distances to objects which are outside our solar system in light-years. A light-year (ly) is the distance that light can travel in one year in a vacuum (empty space). The speed of light is about 186,000 miles or 300,000 kilometers per second. So, in one year light travels a distance of about 5,880,000,000,000 miles or 9,460,000,000,000 kilometers or 63,240 A.U.. This distance is 1 light-year. For example, the nearest star to us is about 4.3 light-years away. Our galaxy, the Milky Way, is about 150,000 light-years across, and the nearest large galaxy, Andromeda, is 2.3 million light-years away.
4. Astronomers use another unit of distance called a parsec (pc), which is equal to 3.26 light-years. The definition of the parsec is based on a triangle. A parsec is the length of the long leg of a right triangle, whose short leg is one astronomical unit when the angle between the Sun and the Earth, as seen from an object in space (a star for example), is one arcsecond The word parsec stands for "parallax of one arc second" One kiloparsec (kpc), is one thousand parsecs. One megaparsec (Mpc) is one million parsecs.

Measuring distance in space is to determine the distances from Earth to other Celestials body, galaxies, stars etc… One of the biggest challenges astronomers face is modeling and mapping the universe is measuring distances. Developing methods to measure the distances of stars, galaxies from Earth is very important for astronomers because it can provide a way to estimate the size of the universe, it also offer valuable clues about the age of the universe.

Some tools to measure inter-stellar distances are:

1. Using Triangulation is a method of measuring distance indirectly by creating an imaginary triangle between an observer and an object whoso distance is to estimate.

2. Using parallax. When astronomers use triangulation to determine the distance to a nearby star, they rely on the star's parallax to provide them with the angles they need to make the necessary measurements. Parallax is the apparent shift in position of a nearby object when it is viewed from two different points.

3. The last way is using Cepheid variables. Measuring triangulation and parallax from Earth has its limits, since no baseline can make along enough to measure the enormous distances in the universe. In 1919, astronomer Henrietta Leavitt discovered Cepheid Variables. These are stars that actually change size and brightness.

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Answer 4

A meter stick.

Answer 5

Scientific notation

Answer 6

I would use either miles or kilometres.

Answer 7

kilometers

Answer 8

light years