Astronomical Unit and Light Years

Which unit of measurement is used to measure distances within our solar system?

• inches

• kilometers

• miles

• Astronomical units

The distance light can travel in one year is ______________

• 15,000 kilometers

• 1 light-year

• 15 Astronomical Units

• 6,000 miles

What unit of measurement is used to calculate distance in our universe?

• astronomical units

• kilometers

• light years

• parsecs

What is an astronomical unit (A.U.)?

• the time it takes light to travel one year

• the distance between the Earth and the Moon

• the distance between the Earth and the Sun

• the distance between the Earth and the Neptune

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS1-3

Proxima Centauri is the closest star to Earth after the Sun and is located 4.3 light years away from Earth. How long does it take light from Proxima Centauri to reach Earth?

• 1 year
• 4.3 years
• 43 years
• 10 trillion years

How many light years is a parsec?

• 5.6

• 3.3

• 10

• 1

If an object is 15,000,000,000,000,000 km away, how many light years is it away?

• 15 light years

• 10 light years

• 2000 light years

• 1500 light years

If an object is 8.4 light years away, how many parsecs is it?

• 2.6 parsecs

• 5 parsecs

• 2 parsecs

• 1.7 parsec

Why do we use light years and astronomical units to measure distances in space?

• Scientists want to sound smart.

• Hubble discovered these units and wanted to use them.

• Space is too small to use km, it wouldn't make sense.

• Space is too big, vast, enormous to use traditional units, like miles.

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS1-3

Which of the following scenarios would we use Light Years to determine, not Astronomical Units (AU)?

• distance from Mercury to Saturn

• distance from Sun to Neptune

• distance from Earth to Sun

• distance from Asteroid Belt to the Betelgeuse Star