SEUE1002

Fundamentals of Cosmology
Assoc. Prof. Tolgahan KILIÇOĞLU
Lecture 02
Sizes and Distances in Cosmology
 Human height (~2 m)

100
102
1 Kilometer (km) The event horizon of a stellar-mass black
hole (~4 km)

104
Size of neutron star (~14 km)

The width of Turkey (1650 km)

106
Radius of Earth (6371 km)
Radius of Jupiter (69911 km)

108
Earth-Moon Distance (384400 km)
Diameter of the Sun (~1400000 km)
Average Distance of Earth from the Sun
1 Astronomical Unit (AB)
(~150 million km)
Distance of Neptune from the Sun
(~4.5109 km or 30.1 AU)

1 Light Year (ly) Edge pf the Solar System (~100 000 AU)
1 Parsec (pc) Distance to the nearest star,  Cen (4.2 ly)

1 Kiloparsec (kpc) Distance of the Sun from the center of

Astronomy the Galaxy (24000 ly)

Width of the Milky Way Galaxy (180000 ly)

Distance of the Andromeda Galaxy
1 Megaparsec (Mpc) (2.5 million ly)
Width of the Local Group (10 million ıy)
Width of superclusters
Cosmology

Width of the observable universe

(93 billion ly or 28500 Mpc)
1010 1012 1014 1016 1018 1020 1022 1024 1026 meter
Astronomy is a natural science that
studies the physics, chemistry and
kinematics of the celestial objects as
well as their origins and evolution.

Cosmology is a branch of astronomy

that studies the origin and evolution of
the universe as a whole.
 384 400 km
Earth Moon

Credit: Science
ABC.
Average Sun-Earth Distance: 149 600 000 km / 1 Astronomical Unit
 10
Distance of Voyager: 2·10 km (~150 AU)

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
 13
Distance to the nearest star,  Cen: 4.2 ly (265 606 AU or 4·10 km)
Diameter of the Milky Way Galaxy:
> 100 000 ly (> 9.5·1017 km)
 The Milky Way Galaxy contains more than
100 billion stars.

Distance of the Sun from the center of the

Galaxy: ~8 kpc (2.5·1017 km)
Andromeda galaxy: The closest spiral
galaxy to the Milky Way.
 19
Distance of the closest Spiral Galaxy: ~2 500 000 ly (2.4·10 km)
Photo Credit: Ninara/Wikimedia Commons

Homo habilis - ~2.5 million years ago

 20
Typical diameter of galaxy clusters: ~ 4 Mpc (1.2·10 km)
Superclusters
Diameter of the observable universe: ~28500 Mpc (8.8·1023 km)
Some Fundamental Distances

5
• Distance of the Moon from the Earth: 384 400 km (~4·10 km)
8
• Distance of the Earth from the Sun: 149 600 000 km (~1.5·10 km)
10
• Distance of Voyager from the Earth: 2·10 km
13
• Distance of the nearest star,  Cen: 4.2 ly (4·10 km)
17
• Distance of the Sun from the Center of Milky Way: ~ 8 kpc (2.5·10 km)
17
• Diameter of the Milky Way: > ~100 000 ly (9.5·10 km)
19
• Distance of the nearest spiral galaxy from Milky Way: ~2 500 000 ly (2.4·10 km)
20
• Diameter of the galaxy clusters: ~ 4 Mpc (1.2·10 km)
23
• Diameter of the observable universe: ~28500 Mpc (8.8·10 km)
Practice
1. How many Angströms is 300 nanometers?

1 nm = 10 Å

300 nm = 3000 Å
Practice
2. The Andromeda galaxy is about 2.5 million light years away.
Compare the distance of Andromeda to the distance of Neptune
from the Sun (30 AU).

dA= 2.5106 ly dN= 30 AU

1 ly = 9.51015 m = 9.51012 km 1 AU = 149.6 million km = 1.496 108 km

dA= 2.5106  9.51012 = 2.4 1019 km dN= 30  1.496 108 = 4.5  109 km

𝑑𝐴 2.4 ∙ 1019
= 9 = 5.3 ∙ 109
𝑑𝑁 4.5 ∙ 10

The distance of Andromeda is about 5 billion

times as large as that of the Sun-Neptune.
Practice
3. Which object contains largest number of stars?

a. Open cluster
b. Globular cluster
c. Supercluster
d. Galaxy cluster
e. Galaxy
Practice
4. Which one is the wrong expression for the approximate
diameter of the observable universe?

a. 28500 Mpc
b. 8.81023 km
c. 2.851010 pc
d. 5.91015 AU
e. 93 million light years