11. Powers of Ten
âž² 109 meters = 1
gigameter: Light
requires 3
seconds to cross
this picture.
âž² Earth and Moon
12. Powers of Ten
âž² 1010 meters = 10
gigameters
âž² Orbit of the moon
within the orbit of
Earth during four
days in July
13. Powers of Ten
âž² 1011 meters = 100
gigameters
âž² Orbits of Venus,
Earth, and Mars
14. Powers of Ten
âž² 1012 meters = 1
terameter
âž² Within the orbit of
Jupiter
âž² Close to the limit
of almost all
satellites we have
sent in space.
(with 4 exceptions)
15. Powers of Ten
âž² 1013 meters = 10
terameters: Light
takes ~8 hours to
cross this picture.
âž² The solar system
âž² 4 satellites Pioneers
10 and 11, Voyagers
1 and 2, have passed
beyond the orbit of
Pluto
16. Powers of Ten
âž² 1014 meters = 100
terameters
âž² Our sun and the
orbits of its
planets + A few
rocks
17. Powers of Ten
âž² 1015 meters = 1
petameter
âž² The most distant
space probe,
Voyager 1, was
about 16 light-
hours away from
the Earth as of
2011.
18. Powers of Ten
âž² 1016 meters = 10
petameters
(Approximately 1
light year)
âž² The Oort cloud is
a hypothesized
spherical cloud of
comets
19. Powers of Ten
âž² 1017 meters = 100
petameters (~10
light years)
âž² The nearest stars
Proxima Centauri
and Rigil
âž² It would take us
1,00,000 years to
travel this far.
20. Powers of Ten
âž² 1018 meters = 1
exameter (~100
light years)
âž² There are about
1000 stars within
the 50 light years
cube.
21. Powers of Ten
âž² 1019 meters = 10
exameters (~1000
light years)
âž² The stars of the
Orion arm
22. Powers of Ten
âž² 1020 meters = 100
exameters
(~10,000 light
years)
âž² Our spiral arm
23. Powers of Ten
âž² 1021 meters = 1
zettameter
(~1,00,000 light
years)
âž² The Milky Way
âž² The Sun has
orbited the Milky
Way about 15-18
times.
24. Powers of Ten
âž² 1022 meters = 10
zettameters (~1
million light years)
âž² The Large and
Small Magellanic
Clouds (orbiting
the Milky Way)
25. Powers of Ten
âž² 1023 meters =
100 zettameters
âž² The local
galactic Group
26. Powers of Ten
âž² 1024 meters =
1 yottameter
(~100 million
light years)
27. Powers of Ten
âž² 1025 meters
âž² Superclusters
the largest
structures in
the Universe
28. Powers of Ten
âž² 1026 meters
= 100
yottameter
s (~10
billion light
years)
âž² The Visible
Universe
29. Powers of Ten
âž² 100 meters = 1
meter: Light takes
about 3
nanoseconds to
cross this picture.
âž² One meter square