Time

Parsec

Astronomical objects are very far and located in space that may be way beyond our imagination. We can only view stars from afar and often think about how far they really are from Earth. Despite the lack of possibilities of measuring these astronomical bodies up-close, astronomers and astrophysicists have devised a way to determine how

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Tropical Year

Since long ago, people have determined time by looking at the skies and the astronomical events that occur. You already know that the rotation of the earth defines day and night while the revolution of the earth around the sun causes different seasons and also determines a “year”. However, with the advances in technology, scientists

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Light Year

Stars and celestial objects are far from the Earth. Unlike travelling by land which can be easily approximated by measuring distances in kilometers or miles, celestial objects cover a great distance away from the Earth. Another unit of measurement is used to quantify this huge distance which cannot be simply represented by the use of

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Sidereal Year

When people talk about astronomy, especially when it comes to aging systems, stars or other concepts that relate with age, the term sidereal year is mentioned. This term is defined in science as the measure of time for a planet, star constellation or celestial body to complete its orbit around the sun, in terms of

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Megaparsec

Just like the parsec (an abbreviation for Parallax of one arcsecond) and kiloparsec (equivalent to 1,000 parsecs, or KPC for short), the megaparsec (or MPC) is a measurement unit that is used in astronomy to measure the great, vast distance between galaxies in intergalactic space. It is said that one parsec is equal to about

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Tides

Photo by: Mbz1 Creative Commons Tides are the periodic fluctuations of large bodies of water. They are caused by the gravitational interaction between the Earth and the Moon in what is generally called tidal forces. Although tidal changes may occur as a result of other factors like the Moon’s altitude and distance, the positions of

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