1. Our Space Time Coordinates: Time, Distances, and Sizes

2. Seven Continents and Four Oceans
Universe
Milky Way Galaxy
Solar System (including the star Sun, the planet Earth, the moon Moon(!), etc)
Planet Earth
Seven Continents and Four Oceans
North America, South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, Antartica
Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Arctic
Countries, States, Cities
United States of America, Ohio, Dayton
Russ Engineering Center, Wright State University, 3640, Col. Glenn Highway

3. (Speed of light = 186000 miles per second)
Measuring Distances
Average Distance between Sun and Earth
= 93 million miles
(1 Astronomical Unit)
(Speed of light = miles per second)
(1 light second = miles )
= 500 light second
= light minutes
1 light-second = mi = km 1 light-minute = mi = km 1 Astronomical Unit (AU) = light-minutes = mi = km 1 light-hour = mi = ×10^12 m 1 light-day = × 10^10 mi = ×10^13 m 1 light-year = × 10^12 mi = ×10^15 m < d/y> 1 parsec = x 10^13 miles = light-years = x 10^13 km

4. Visualizing Distances
If 1 inch is the distance between sun and earth,
then 1 mile is equivalent to light year.
1 parsec = 3.26 light years
The parsec ("parallax of one arcsecond", symbol pc) is a unit of length, equal to just under 31trillion kilometres (about 19 trillion miles), or about 3.26 light-years.

5. Solar System scaled to Football field
Body
Diameter
Semi-major axis
Sun
0.85 in (21.5 mm)
zero
Mercury
0.003 in (0.08 mm)
1.0 yard (0.9 m)
Venus
0.007 in (0.19 mm)
1.9 yard (1.7 m)
Earth
0.008 in (0.20 mm)
2.5 yard (2.3 m)
Mars
0.004 in (0.10 mm)
3.8 yard (3.5 m)
Ceres
0.001 in (0.02 mm)
7.0 yard (6.4 m)
Jupiter
0.085 in (2.16 mm)
13.1 yard (12.0 m)
Saturn
0.071 in (1.8 mm)
24.2 yard (22.1 m)
Uranus
0.029 in (0.73 mm)
48.6 yard (44.4 m)
Neptune
0.028 in (0.7 mm)
76.1 yard (69.6 m)
Pluto
0.002 in (0.05 mm)
100.0 yard (91.4 m)
Eris
171.4 yard (156.7 m)
α Centauri A
0.94 in (23.9 mm)
396 mile (637 km)
Yard = 3 feet meter = 40 inches
Average Distance from Sun::-
Mercury : Venus : Mars :: 1 : 2 : 4
Jupiter : Saturn :: 1 : (25%)
Saturn : Uranus : Neptune : Pluto :: 1 : 2 : 3 : 4

6. Distances to nearby objects
Heavenly Body
Average Distance from Earth
Moon
1.3 light seconds
Sun
8.3 light minutes
Mars
12 light minutes
(0.5 – 2.5 AU)
Jupiter
42 light minutes
Saturn
1.2 light hours
Pluto
4 light hours
Comets – outer reaches of solar system
Light months
Time needed for signals to travel to interplanetary spacecrafts
Distance between mars and earth varies between 0.5 AU – 2.5AU
(Consider elliptic motions around the sun)

7. Blue/Red giant in Orion
Distances to Stars
Stars
Distinction
Distance from Earth
(light years)
Proxima Centauri
Nearest Star
4.2 light years
Sirius
Brightest Star
(in night sky)
8.6 light years
Pole star
North star,
Cepheid Variable
300 light years
Rigel/Betelgeuse
Blue/Red giant in Orion
800/600 light years
Deneb
Blue giant in Cygnus
1500 light years
Andromeda Galaxy
Nearest galaxy
2 million light years
*HST Image*
Most distant galaxy
13 billion light years
Light left the farthest object when the universe was only 750 million light years old
The object is not in the cluster but situated a long way behind it.
Abell 2218 was simply used as a "gravitational lens" - a massive foreground object that can bend and magnify the light of objects much further away.

8. Age vs Distance http://www.fas.org/irp/imint/docs/rst/Sect20/A8.html
Age: Distance travelled by light?
If red shift of light is measured, we get source velocity information.
We still need its distance to estimate age.

10. Universe Distances
FantasticTrip.pps

11. Universe Timeline http://www.pbs.org/deepspace/timeline/index.html

12. Sizes of planets and stars
Planets, Stars, Nebulae, Galaxies - Universe Size Comparison [HD High Definition]
2015:
2016: