Physics Astronomy Help Please?

K

Kay Y

New member
1) How many meters are there in a light-second? From a window, you can see two at distances of 300m and 600 m. How far away are the tress in light-microseconds?

2) The diameter of the Earths orbit around the Sun is roughly 3 X 10*11m. The nearest star system to our sun is obserevd at 2 times 6 months apart(i.e when the earth is at opposite sides of its orbits) and is found to change direction by 4.2 X 10*- 4 degrees. How far away is the star system?
 
1) Light-second = 300,000,000 meters
The first tree is at 1 (light-microsecond), the second is at 2 L|uS(I used routinely, 1 |uS range gate for 150 meters-round trip in Radar maths)

2) 4.2 X 10^ -4 degrees = 1.512 seconds of arc
Distance = 1/1.512" = 0.661376 parsecs
= 0.661376 X 3.26 LY = 2.156 LY.
This star is nearer than Proxima Centauri by (roughly) half.

Sun is 500 light-seconds away. Our orbit around the Sun (almost circular, less elliptical) has a dia. of 100 light-seconds.
 
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