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Physics Tutorial 22.7 - Astronomical Measurements and Observations

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There are 3 lessons in this physics tutorial covering Astronomical Measurements and Observations. The tutorial starts with an introduction to Astronomical Measurements and Observations and is then followed with a list of the separate lessons, the tutorial is designed to be read in order but you can skip to a specific lesson or return to recover a specific physics lesson as required to build your physics knowledge of Astronomical Measurements and Observations. you can access all the lessons from this tutorial below.

In this Physics tutorial, you will learn:

  • What are the most common methods for measuring long distances in the sky?
  • Which method is used to measure short/average/long astronomical distances?
  • What are the four units used to measure astronomic distances? What are the conversion factors between them?
  • What are the instruments used to obtain information from celestial bodies?
  • How big is the visible universe?
  • Which optical instruments operate in the spectrum of visible light?
  • Which instruments use the invisible light to obtain useful info from cosmos?
  • How does a telescope work?
  • What is space telescope? What advantages does it have compared to other telescopes?

Introduction

So far, we have learned that distances in the Universe measured in light years vary from a few seconds or minutes (the distance Earth-Moon = 1.28 s of light, the distance Earth-Sun = 6 min 20 s of light, etc.) to billions of light years (in remote galaxies). However, a quick look at the sky provides little insight into which star is closer to us and which is farther. This is because stars have different sizes - a feature that can deceive our perception. The sky appears as a two-dimensional picture where the dimension of depth is missing. Hence, the measurement of distances in the sky has always been a challenging task for astronomers. Fortunately, in more modern times we have access to a significant number of tools and methods to support measurement, methods that depend on the distance of celestial bodies from Earth and which we will discuss and explain in this tutorial.

Sometimes, it is helpful to make observations for long periods in specific sections of the sky to know how the universe changes over time. This will be another element we are going to discuss in this tutorial.

Please select a specific "Astronomical Measurements and Observations" lesson from the table below, review the video tutorial, print the revision notes or use the practice question to improve your knowledge of this physics topic.

Cosmology Learning Material
Tutorial IDPhysics Tutorial TitleTutorialVideo
Tutorial
Revision
Notes
Revision
Questions
22.7Astronomical Measurements and Observations
Lesson IDPhysics Lesson TitleLessonVideo
Lesson
22.7.1Measurement of Distances in the Universe
22.7.2Instruments Used for Observation of Sky
22.7.3Space Telescope

Whats next?

Enjoy the "Astronomical Measurements and Observations" physics tutorial? People who liked the "Astronomical Measurements and Observations" tutorial found the following resources useful:

  1. Physics tutorial Feedback. Helps other - Leave a rating for this tutorial (see below)
  2. Cosmology Revision Notes: Astronomical Measurements and Observations. Print the notes so you can revise the key points covered in the physics tutorial for Astronomical Measurements and Observations
  3. Cosmology Practice Questions: Astronomical Measurements and Observations. Test and improve your knowledge of Astronomical Measurements and Observations with example questins and answers
  4. Check your calculations for Cosmology questions with our excellent Cosmology calculators which contain full equations and calculations clearly displayed line by line. See the Cosmology Calculators by iCalculator™ below.
  5. Continuing learning cosmology - read our next physics tutorial: Orientation in the Sky and Constellations

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