AST101 Lecture-Slides 02

(Pre-lecture slides: may be updated after lecture.
AST101: The Sun and its Neighbours

Lecture 2: Where are we in the Universe? Prof. Adam D. Hincks
With materials developed by Mike Reid, Bryan Gaensler, Jeremy Webb, C . Barth Netterfield and Renée Hložek.
Business
AST101, U of T • Lecture 2 • Prof. Hincks

Business

Today’s Topics
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Our ‘cosmic address’.
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Distances in astronomy: astronomical units (AU), light year (ly)
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Astronomical distance vs. lookback time
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Terminology: planet, dwarf planet, moon, star, solar system,
galaxy
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Approximate sizes of important objects

Our ‘Cosmic Address’
Photo: Georgia Mizuleva
MR+ AST101, U of T • Lecture 2 • Prof. Hincks

Photo: Michael Reid

Photo: Michael Reid

Photo: G.Hüdepohl (atacamaphoto.com)/ESO (CC BY 3.0)
MR+/I AST101, U of T • Lecture 2 • Prof. Hincks

So, where are we then?

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We are ‘near’ a star: the Sun.
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We are ‘near’ a moon.
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There are seven planets ‘nearby’.
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We are surrounded by other stars.


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What else is there?

To see beyond the ‘nearby’ stars that surround us, we need
some advanced instruments. Let’s get a telescope!
10 m
vs. ~½ cm
Keck II Telescope, Hawaii

Photo: SiOwl (CC BY 3.0)
Pictures from the Hubble Space Telescope
M81
UGC 12812, Mrk 9006,

KPG 592B
MR+/I NGC2207 & IC2163 AST101, U of T • Lecture 2 • Prof. Hincks

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Moreover, we are surrounded by other
groups of stars.
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They are probably much further away than the other
objects since they only appear in telescopes

planet Earth
star
system The Solar System
galaxy Milky Way Galaxy
galaxy cluster Local Group
everything The Universe

Today’s Topics
●
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●
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galaxy
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Distances in Astronomy
However big you imagine space to be … it is not big enough.
It is much,
MUCH
bigger!
You are about 10 billion You are about a billion, billion,

times bigger than a BILLION times smaller than the
single atom observable universe
10-15 m 10-10 m 10-6 m 1m 107 m 1013 m 1021 m 1027 m

proton atom cell person Earth Solar our observable
System galaxy universe

You are here

The Solar System is
enormous
and is almost completely empty.*
*Not strictly empty. There are tiny, tiny quantities of gas and
dust throughout

‘The Understanding, indeed, opens an infinite Space on every side of
us, but the Imagination, after a few faint Efforts, is immediately at a
stand, and finds her self swallowed up in the Immensity of the Void that
surrounds it: Our Reason can pursue a Particle of Matter through an
infinite Variety of Divisions, but the Fancy soon loses sight of it, and
feels in it self a kind of Chasm … The Object is too big for our Capacity,
when we would comprehend the Circumference of a World, and
dwindles into nothing, when we endeavour after the Idea of an Atome.’
Joseph Addison, ‘Pleasures of Imagination’, The Spectator, No. 420 (2 July 1712).
10-15 m 10-10 m 10-6 m 1m 107 m 1013 m 1021 m 1027 m

proton atom cell person Earth Solar our observable
System galaxy universe

~150,000,000,000 m

~1.5×1011 m

In astronomy, numbers are huge when we compare to human-
sized things … imagine always having to keep track of all the
zeros in a number like 150,000,000,000 m!
Units like metres and inches and kilometres and miles are
designed for human-sized things.
Astronomers have their own units designed for astronomy-sized

things.

1 AU
1 AU = 1 astronomical unit
= average distance between
Earth and Sun
= 149597870691 m
≈ 1.5×1011 m
Sun
nearest star
40,200,000,000,000,000 m
= 269,000 AU
= 1 ‘nearest star unit’ … ?

Sun
nearest star
4.25 light years

1 ly = 1 light year
= distance light travels in one year
= 9,460,730,472,580 km
≈ 9.5×1012 km
≈ 63,000 AU
Sometimes it make sense to define a distance based on how long

it takes something to travel somewhere.
●
E.g., a league (3 miles) ≈ the distance the average person
walks in an hour
MR+/+ AST101, U of T • Lecture 2 • Prof. Hincks

1 AU ≈ 8.3 light minutes

Today’s Topics
●
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galaxy
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Astronomical Distance vs. Lookback Time
Sun
1 AU ≈ 8.3 light minutes
We always see the sun as it was about eight minutes ago.

If the sun were to suddenly stop shining* right now, it would take
us eight minutes to realise that this had happened.
*Don’t worry, this probably won’t happen.
MR+/+ AST101, U of T • Lecture 2 • Prof. Hincks

Sun
nearest star
4.25 light years
How long ago did the light leave the nearest star to us?

Suppose a star explodes
in a Galaxy one billion
light years away
Flash of light
Our telescopes don’t see it yet!

CBN AST101, U of T • Lecture 2 • Prof. Hincks
light years away
300 million years later …
Travelling at 300,000 km/s,
or 1 ly/year

light years away
600 million years later …
Travelling at 300,000 km/s,
or 1 ly/year

light years away
1 billion years later …
Light enters telescope.
We see the explosion 1 billion years after it happened.

The farther away you look, the farther back in
time you are looking. Light takes time to travel!
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Distance: how far away an object is.
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Lookback time: how long ago the light from that object left it.
Analogy — Mary walks one league from her home to you tell you
how her house renovations are going.
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The distance she has walked is one league.
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The time it took her was one hour. She can only tell you what the
house looked like one hour ago.
Today’s Topics
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galaxy
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Terminology
Stars are balls of plasma

(really hot gas) that produce
energy by nuclear fusion.
The Sun is a star.

Terminology
Planets are rocky, icy or gassy. They don’t produce much energy.

Terminology
Planets are rocky, icy or gassy. They don’t produce much energy.
In 2006, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) accepted a

new definition of the term ‘planet’, adding one new criterion to the
traditional definition:
1. Planets orbit stars directly (not other planets).
2. Planets must be massive enough for their own gravity to
compress them into spherical shapes.
3. Planets must have cleared their orbits. That is, there can’t be
a lot of other stuff orbiting the parent star in orbits very similar
to the planet.
Terminology
Dwarf planets are objects that fail the last criterion for the definition
of a planet.
In 2006, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) accepted a
new definition of the term ‘planet’, adding one new criterion to the
traditional definition:
1. Dwarf planets orbit stars directly (not other planets).
2. Dwarf planets must be massive enough for their own gravity to
compress them into spherical shapes.
3. Dwarf planets must have cleared their orbits. That is, there
can’t be a lot of other stuff orbiting the parent star in orbits very
similar to the planet.
Terminology
A moon is any large body that orbits a planet.

Terminology
A solar system* (or star system) consists of a star† orbited by
planets, moons and lots of debris (comets, asteroids, dust)
* ‘Solar System’ or ‘the Solar System’ (in capitals) means our star
system; in lowercase, ‘solar system’ is also used to refer to any
star system.
†
Some star systems have more than one star. (Ours only has
one.)
More on the Solar System next class!
MR+/+
Terminology
A galaxy is a large group of stars that orbits around a common
centre. Our galaxy is called the Milky Way.
(To learn more about galaxies: AST201, ‘Stars and Galaxies’!)
MR+
Today’s Topics
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galaxy
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Notes
Additional Credits
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Slides marked ‘MR+’ are from a slide-deck from previous offerings of this course, created by
Michael Reid and with subsequent contributions from Bryan Gaensler, Jeremy Webb and Renée
Hložek.
●
Slides marked ‘CBN’ are from a slide-deck created by C. Barth Netterfield for this course.
●
In both cases, adjustments/additions/wording changes have been made to most slides; slides
marked with ‘/+’ have some additional content; slides marked with ‘/I’ have new or different
images.

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(Pre-lecture slides: may be updated after lecture.

AST101: The Sun and its Neighbours

AST101, U of T • Lecture 2 • Prof. Hincks

AST101, U of T • Lecture 2 • Prof. Hincks

AST101, U of T • Lecture 2 • Prof. Hincks

Photo: Georgia Mizuleva

MR+ AST101, U of T • Lecture 2 • Prof. Hincks

Photo: Michael Reid

MR+ AST101, U of T • Lecture 2 • Prof. Hincks

Photo: Michael Reid

MR+ AST101, U of T • Lecture 2 • Prof. Hincks

Photo: G.Hüdepohl (atacamaphoto.com)/ESO (CC BY 3.0)

MR+/I AST101, U of T • Lecture 2 • Prof. Hincks

So, where are we then?

MR+ AST101, U of T • Lecture 2 • Prof. Hincks

So, where are we then?

MR+ AST101, U of T • Lecture 2 • Prof. Hincks

Keck II Telescope, Hawaii

UGC 12812, Mrk 9006,

So, where are we then?

MR+ AST101, U of T • Lecture 2 • Prof. Hincks

MR+/I AST101, U of T • Lecture 2 • Prof. Hincks

AST101, U of T • Lecture 2 • Prof. Hincks

However big you imagine space to be … it is not big enough.

You are about 10 billion You are about a billion, billion,

10-15 m 10-10 m 10-6 m 1m 107 m 1013 m 1021 m 1027 m

MR+ AST101, U of T • Lecture 2 • Prof. Hincks

You are here

MR+ AST101, U of T • Lecture 2 • Prof. Hincks

The Solar System is

MR+ AST101, U of T • Lecture 2 • Prof. Hincks

10-15 m 10-10 m 10-6 m 1m 107 m 1013 m 1021 m 1027 m

AST101, U of T • Lecture 2 • Prof. Hincks

MR+ AST101, U of T • Lecture 2 • Prof. Hincks

MR+ AST101, U of T • Lecture 2 • Prof. Hincks

Astronomers have their own units designed for astronomy-sized

AST101, U of T • Lecture 2 • Prof. Hincks

MR+ AST101, U of T • Lecture 2 • Prof. Hincks

4.25 light years

MR+ AST101, U of T • Lecture 2 • Prof. Hincks

Sometimes it make sense to define a distance based on how long

MR+/+ AST101, U of T • Lecture 2 • Prof. Hincks

1 AU ≈ 8.3 light minutes

MR+ AST101, U of T • Lecture 2 • Prof. Hincks

AST101, U of T • Lecture 2 • Prof. Hincks

1 AU ≈ 8.3 light minutes

We always see the sun as it was about eight minutes ago.

MR+/+ AST101, U of T • Lecture 2 • Prof. Hincks

4.25 light years

AST101, U of T • Lecture 2 • Prof. Hincks

Our telescopes don’t see it yet!

300 million years later …

Our telescopes don’t see it yet!

600 million years later …

Our telescopes don’t see it yet!

1 billion years later …

Light enters telescope.

We see the explosion 1 billion years after it happened.

1 AU ≈ 8.3 light minutes

1 AU ≈ 8.3 light minutes