Jeremy Dedman Astronomy Lab (999) Mr.

Jeff Shaw 12/17/13

Scaling the Universe

Sizes of the Planets You have read about the planets in our solar system many times. However, your readings may not have given you an appropriate idea of the vast space within our solar system. This project will try to do that. Obviously we cannot make an exact replica of the Sun and planets, so instead we must scale everything down to a more approachable size. Just as a map uses a scale to represent distances, in this project we will also use a scale the scale that we will be using for this lab is to approximate the Sun with a beach ball, or every 1,338,000 km will be equal to 40 cm. Using this scale and ratios, you should be able to determine the scaled diameters of the Solar System objects. Scaling Factor = scaled size / real size = ________________________ Fill in the appropriate scaled diameters for the objects in the chart below. Show at least one sample calculation below the table. Object Mean Diameter Scaled Diameter (km) (scaled cm) Sun 1,338,000 km 40 cm Mercury Venus Earth Earths Moon Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune Show work here: Mercury 1,338,000/40 = 4,900/x 4,900*40 = 196,000 196,000/1,338,000 = .146 4,900 km 12,100 km 12,800 km 3,500 km 6,800 km 143,000 km 120,000 km 51,000 km 50,000 km .146 cm .362 cm .383 cm .104 cm .203 cm 4.275 cm 3.587 cm 1.525 cm 1.495 cm

Jeremy Dedman Astronomy Lab (999) Mr. Jeff Shaw 12/17/13

How long is your commute to school in real kilometers? Now how long is your commute to school in our scaled distance? How tall are you on this scale? Compare your scaled size to a real object (ie I would be the height of a grain of sand). Show all your work! Attach additional sheet if needed. Commute: Centimeters: 80 km Kilometers: .00239 cm Height: Centimeters: .00183 km Kilometers: 5*10^-8 km .00183 *40=.073 : .073/1,338,000=.0000000547 (5*10^-8) 80*40=3200 : 3200/1,338,000= .00239

I would be the height of a particle of dust.

Distances of the Planets from the Sun: You will now make a scale model of the distances of the planets from the Sun. Using the same scale, fill in the scaled distances from each planet to the Sun in cm. Also convert these scaled centimeters into scaled km. You will not apply the scale factor again, you need to convert. Object Mercury Venus Earth Mars Jupiter Mean Distance from the Scaled distance Sun (km) from the Sun (cm) 58,000,000 1734 cm 108,000,000 150,000,000 228,000,000 778,000,000 3229 cm 4484 cm 9816 cm 23258 cm Scaled distance from the Sun (km) .01734 km .03229 km .04484 km .09816 km .23258 km

Jeremy Dedman Astronomy Lab (999) Mr. Jeff Shaw 12/17/13 Saturn Uranus Neptune

1,430,000,000 2,870,000,000 4,500,000,000

42750 cm 85799 cm 134529 cm

.42750 km .85799 km 1.34529 km

Suppose that you want to figure out how far away the nearest star system is using the same scale you used above. The Alpha Centauri system is the closest, and it is 4.4 light-years (ly) away from us. Knowing the following conversions, figure out how far away (in scaled centimeters and scaled kilometers) the Alpha Centauri star system would be; also, compare your result to the actual dimensions of some real object, i.e. on this scale the nearest star system would be as far away as Conway. Show all your work. 1 ly = 9.46 x1012 km 1 km = 100000 cm : (3.784*10^14)*1,338,000=282,810,164

(4.4)*(9.46*10^12))*40= (3.784*10^14) Scaled Kilometers: 12,443.647 km Scaled Centimeters: 1,244,364,723 cm

On this scale the nearest star system would be as far away as Ontario.

How big (in scaled km) is the Milky Way in this scale? Use 100,000 ly for the actual width of the Milky Way. What is about this big in our universe (ie if the sun were a beach ball, the Milky Way would be the size of )? Scale Kilometers: 7070254.111 km The Milky Way would be the size of the earth.

Jeremy Dedman Astronomy Lab (999) Mr. Jeff Shaw 12/17/13

How far away is the Andromeda Galaxy on our scale? Look up its actual distance and convert to scaled km. Compare this scaled distance to some real distance (i.e. if the Sun were a beach ball, the AG would be the same width as here to 2,500,000 ly 7.07*10^12 km If the sun were a beach ball, the AG would be the same width as here to Pluto?

Scale Model of the Milky Way The Milky Way galaxy is a large spiral shaped group of stars that includes our Sun. Our Sun is positioned about two-thirds of the way out from the center of our galaxy. This next scale model will help you visualize the size of the Milky Way, and our location in the galaxy. For this activity, we will use a scale where 1 mm represents 500 light-years. 1. Calculate the diameter of the disk of the Milky Way in this scale. (The approximate diameter of our galaxy is 100,000 light-years.) Draw a circle of this diameter on a piece of paper and turn it in with the report. (Show your work.) :100,000/500=200

200mm 2. 6mm

The thickness of the disk of the Milky Way is around 3000 light-years. In our scale, how thick is the Milky Way?

3.

The galaxy has a bulge at its center. The bulge is spherical in shape with a diameter of 10,000 light-years. How big is the bulge in our scale? Draw a circle to represent the bulge at the appropriate location on your drawing.

20mm

Jeremy Dedman Astronomy Lab (999) Mr. Jeff Shaw 12/17/13

4.

Calculate the diameter of the solar system in this scale. The diameter of our solar system out to the Oort cloud is ~1 ly. Show your work. Draw a circle representing the Solar System on your scaled down galaxy at the appropriate location; will you be able to see it? Can you draw the Sun on this scale? :1/500=.002

.002mm

5.

The Andromeda Galaxy is almost the same size as our galaxy. It is the closest spiral galaxy to the Milky Way: only about 2,300,000 light-years away. At this scale, how far part are these two galaxies?

4600mm

Visualize the model of the Sun as the beach ball, and the scale distance separating it and Alpha Centauri, the nearest star. Compare this to the scale size of the Milky Way (500 ly = 1 mm) and the scale distance between it and the nearest spiral galaxy. Which are closer relative to their sizes: stars or galaxies? To do this, calculate the number of stellar radii between stars and the number of galactic radii between galaxies on their respective scales. The smaller of these numbers will tell which objects are relatively closer. Show all your work.