Application of time transfer function to McVittie spacetime: gravitational time delay and secular increase in
astronomical unit.
5
astronomical units from the sun, according to this idea, reported last year in Nature.
They calculated the
astronomical unit by using observations of Mars from two different spots on Earth, then used the difference between those two observations to calculate our distance from Mars, which they then used to determine our distance from the sun.
Trujillo and Sheppard estimated that a planet about two to 15 times as massive as Earth, at a distance of 250
astronomical units (about eight times as far from the sun as Neptune) could explain why these 12 perihelia were bunched together.
Shows distance from sun in
Astronomical Units (AU) 1AU = Sun to Earth 100 million miles Neptune = 3 billion miles Sedna = 6 billion milesEarth 12,756km Largest of the inner planet s Moon 3476kmKuiper Belt Region of icy debris 30 to 100 AU from the SunHow Sedna compares (diameter)Mercury 4878km Smallest inner planetSPACED OUT: Sedna is located 6 billion miles from the EarthPluto 2280kmThe discovery of Sedna, a Pluto-sized object found by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, orbiting the Sun at a distance of about 6 billion miles looks set to renew debate over Pluto's right to planet statusSedna Similar in size to Pluto
Recently, astronomers reported the surprising discovery of a very large diameter Kuiper Belt planetoid -- (90377) Sedna -- on a distant, 12,500-year-long, eccentric orbit centered approximately 500
astronomical units from the Sun.
AU stands for
Astronomical Units or the average distance between earth and sun.
Such comets are visiting the inner solar system for the first time and have semi-major axis greater than 10,000
astronomical units (AU).
Previously, astronomers knew that planets could form in exceptionally wide binary systems, in which stars are 1,000 times farther apart than the distance between Earth and the sun, or 1,000
astronomical units.
mag] is the measured magnitude for filter X, r and d are the Saturn-Earth and Saturn-Sun distances in
astronomical units, k is the fraction of Saturn + rings that is illuminated by the Sun as seen from the Earth; k is computed from:
The story noted that it will take 30,000 years for the two Voyager probes to pass through the Oort cloud, a huge sphere of ice chunks that extends as far as 100,000
astronomical units from the sun.
The size of the hot core is as large as 800 times 300
astronomical units (au, 1 au equals to the mean distance of the Sun and Earth; 150 million km).
