We Have Lift Off
Thursday, January 19, 2006

The New Horizon's probe to Pluto has launched and it was successful. Watching the launch was amazing, no plutonium spills so we are safe. Now all we need to do is wait for another 10 years to see our 9th planet up close and personal. The rocket reached speeds of 16,000 mph and for those of you who are interested in the speed of light below are some numbers and facts.....

• The nearest star (other than the Sun) is 4.3 light years away.

• Our galaxy (the Milky Way) is about 100,000 light years in diameter.

• The distance to the galaxy M87 in the Virgo cluster is 50 million light years.

• The distance to most distant object seen in the universe is about 18 billion light years

So to measure really long distances, people use a unit called a light year. Light travels at 186,000 miles per second (300,000 kilometers per second). Therefore, a light second is 186,000 miles (300,000 kilometers). A light year is the distance that light can travel in a year, or:

186,000 miles/second * 60 seconds/minute * 60 minutes/hour * 24 hours/day * 365 days/year = 5,865,696,000,000 miles/year

A light year is 5,865,696,000,000 miles (9,460,800,000,000 kilometers). That's a long way!

Posted by mardenhill 1/19/2006 02:15:00 PM    

4 Comments:

1. Anonymous said...
   8:14 PM  
   Very nice site! »
   Anonymous said...
   7:50 AM  
   You have an outstanding good and well structured site. I enjoyed browsing through it topamax information about it area rugs virginia add provigil mpg rating for lexus rx330 4 dr suv Laser tattoo removal breaux bridge free hardcore Between difference eczema psoriasis topamax side effects how soon go away Celexa interactions xanax unsecured small business credit card
   Anonymous said...
   2:04 AM  
   Very cool design! Useful information. Go on! »
   Anonymous said...
   5:16 PM  
   Best regards from NY! » » »

Post a Comment