Distance in Space and Billions of Galaxies

The Orion Nebula is a gaseous cloud in space containing numerous new stars. When viewing it through a high-powered telescope, an observer sees what the nebula looked like 1,500 years ago. How is this possible?

• Light from the telescope takes 1,500 years to reach the nebula.

• The nebula is 1,500 years old.

• It takes 1,500 years for light from the nebula to reach Earth

• A high-powered telescope needs to be adjusted for its location

Distances between planets and stars are too large to be expressed in everyday units. Which of the following units is most likely used when astronomers measure the distances between Earth and the stars of the Milky Way galaxy?

• year

• light year

• kilometer

• astronomical unit

During the summer of 2015, the New Horizon space probe provided the first fly by images of the dwarf planet Pluto. The NASA engineers were amazed to see mountains as high as 3,500 meters displayed across the icy surface. They also observed a canyon that is 7 to 9 kilometers deep. One of the most amazing thing about the entire mission was the ability of a space probe, about the size of a piano, to travel the enormous distance to the Kuiper Belt object. Which of the following distances best reflects the distance the New Horizon traveled from Earth to Pluto?

• 4.67 light years

• 600,000 miles

• 32.63 astronomical units

• 7 million kilometers

A galaxy is best described as a

• cluster of billions of stars

• cluster of millions of stars

• cluster of thousands of stars

• everything in outer space

Which statement BEST describes the number of galaxies and stars in the universe?

• Billions of galaxies and millions of stars

• Millions of galaxies and billions of stars.

• Millions of galaxies and millions of stars

• Billions of galaxies and billions of stars

The universe contains many galaxies including the Milky Way galaxy. The Milky Way galaxy contains stars, planets, moons, and other objects. What do other galaxies have in common with the Milky Way galaxy?

• They are all the same size

• They are all held together by gravity

• hey are all spiral shape

• They all have the same number of stars

When measuring from Earth to any place inside the solar system, which unit of measurement is used?

• mile

• astronomical unit

• light year

• feet

Is the sun the only star in the universe?

• yes, the sun is the only star.

• No, the sun is not the only star, there are billions of stars.

• no, the sun is not a star.

• yes, the sun is the only star ever made.

How big is a galaxy?

• Galaxies are smaller than a solar system.

• galaxies are bigger than a nebula.

• Galaxies are bigger than a solar system.

• galaxies are not big enough to have stars.

The Milky way Galaxy is not the only galaxy in the universe. There are billions of galaxies which have billions of stars and planets that are like Earth !

• true

• false