GEOL 101 Lecture 11: Aug 29
23 Dec 2015
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Heliocentric vs geocentric: ancients thought universe was geocentric. Earth @ center, circled earth: now know its heliocentric. Quantify space by distance, size, & time: distance: light years. The distance light can travel in one earth year (ly) Most commonly used to describe distances within the galaxy. Average distance between the earth and the sun (1 au) Most commonly used to describe distance within the. Examples: mercury to sun (. 33 au), pluto to sun: distance #2: solar system (40 au, time. The time scale of universe spans billions of years: size: Use comparisons as a method of estimating size of objects in the universe. Example: one million earths would fit into the sun. Big bang theory: all universe was formed at a specific time from a single, infinitely dense point during a cataclysmic expansion, has been expanding ever since, matter energy & space came into existence in a single event.
