SCMA*1050 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe, Cosmic Calendar, Scientific Notation
Document Summary
Agenda class 1: universe overview: the big picture . Light travel as a measure of distance and time. Scientific notation: due for next class (see last page for details): Readings in etext (for online class quiz next week) Astronomy is the study of the entire universe , from the largest to the smallest scales. To be able to easily work with such hugely different sizes, astronomers use the scientific notation (or powers of ten ) as their mathematical language of choice . This notation allows them to express how big or small something is with just a simple power-of-ten number, usually in units of meters (m), or sometimes also in light-years (ly) for the largest distances. Earth"s diameter is nearly 13,000km across; or, expressed in meters, nearly. The same large number can be conveniently written in scientific notation as simply 13x106 m.
