OUR COSMIC ADDRESS
Each of us has an address. Ours is:
The Denver Museum of Nature and Science
2001 Colorado Blvd.
Denver, Colorado 80205-5798
But what is our cosmic address?
OUR COSMIC ADDRESS
So Where Do We Live? On the Planet Earth!
OUR COSMIC ADDRESS
The Earth is the third planet from a star we call our sun, or Sol.
The sun, its planets, their moons, and other bodies constitute our
solar system.
OUR COSMIC ADDRESS
The nine planets of the solar system in order
from the sun. The relative sizes are accurate,
but relative distances from the sun are not.
Jupiter
Uranus
Mercury Earth
Mercury
Venus Mars
Sun
Pluto
Neptune
Saturn
OUR COSMIC ADDRESS
The Earth is one Astronomical Unit or 1 AU from the Sun.
SUN
1 AU
EARTH
One AU equals about 93,000,000 miles, or 150,000,000
kilometers.
OUR COSMIC ADDRESS
Distances of the Planets from
the Sun
Mercury
.0387 AU /
35,419,000 miles
Venus
.7233 AU /
67,242,000 miles
Earth
1.0 AU /
93,000,000 miles
Mars
1.524 AU /
141,600,000 miles
Jupiter
5.203 AU /
483,800,000 miles
Saturn
9.539 AU /
890,000,000 miles
Uranus
19.9 AU / 1,783,169,440 miles
Neptune
30.06 AU / 2,790,000,000 miles
Pluto
39.53 AU / 3,647,200,000 miles
OUR COSMIC ADDRESS
Our solar system extends to where the solar wind ceases to be of
any significant influence.
This boundary is called the Heliopause.
Heliopause
Voyager 1
Voyager 2
OUR COSMIC ADDRESS
But where in the universe
is the solar system?
OUR COSMIC ADDRESS
It’s in the Milky Way Galaxy.
OUR COSMIC ADDRESS
The Milky Way
Galaxy is about
586,000,000,00
0,000,000 (586
quadrillion)
miles, or
6,300,000,000,0
00 (6.3 trillion)
AU, or 97,800
light years in
diameter.
This is a Hubble Space Telescope view of a spiral
galaxy similar to the Milky Way.
OUR COSMIC ADDRESS
As we go further out
from the Sun, the
distances get so vast
that we must use a
larger unit of
measurement -- light
years.
http://
NCG 6369, “The Little Ghost,” is a dying star that is
between 2000 to 5000 light years from Earth.
OUR COSMIC ADDRESS
A light year is the distance light
travels in one year. In one year,
light travels 64,000 AU, or
6,000,000,000,000 (6 trillion)
miles.
Light travels at 186,291 miles
per second!
It takes light 8½ minutes to
travel from the Sun to Earth.
That’s a distance of 1 AU or
93,000,000 miles.
12 light year long jet emanating
from a newborn star
OUR COSMIC ADDRESS
•Our galaxy (the Milky Way) is about 100,000 light years in
diameter.
•The nearest star is 4.3 light years away.
•The distance to the most distant object seen in the universe is
about 14 billion light years (14 x 109 light years).
•Looking at light that reaches us from many light years away is also
looking back in time because that light left its source long ago.
OUR COSMIC ADDRESS
Faraway Galaxies, Hubble Ultra Deep Field
Image: NASA
Where in the Universe is the Milky Way Galaxy?
OUR COSMIC ADDRESS
Our Galaxy is located
in a small cluster of
some 40 galaxies,
including the
Andromeda galaxy and
the Magellanic clouds,
called the Local Group.
The Local Group is
located in the Local
Super Cluster.
OUR COSMIC ADDRESS
The Local Group is part
of the Local Super
Cluster, which is
moving towards an
unseen and undetected
mass, called the Great
Attractor, at the
approximate speed of
1,342,224 miles per
hour.
A view towards the Great Attractor
OUR COSMIC ADDRESS
So, our cosmic
address is:
OUR COSMIC ADDRESS
Outer Galactic Being
Local Super Cluster
Universe
000000
THE DENVER MUSEUM OF NATURE AND SCIENCE
2001 Colorado Blvd.
Denver, Colorado 80205-5798
United States of America
Planet Earth
Solar System
Solar Neighborhood
Milky Way Galaxy
Local Group
Local Super Cluster
Near the Great Attractor
Universe