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Light seconds, light years, light centuries: How to measure extreme distances - Yuan-Sen Ting

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When we look at the sky, we have a flat, two-dimensional view. So how do astronomers figure the distances of stars and galaxies from Earth? Yuan-Sen Ting shows us how trigonometric parallaxes, standard candles and more help us determine the distance of objects several billion light years away from Earth.

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Even if we have rockets that can travel with the speed of light, roughly how many years would it take for an astronaut to travel from the Milky Way to its closest galaxy – the Andromeda galaxy?

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Meet The Creators

  • Director Jeremiah Dickey
  • Educator Yuan-Sen Ting, Gautham Narayan, Amali Vaz
  • Narrator Addison Anderson

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