How Old Are You? Astronomy 101 – Prof. Jon Satko
To understand the relationship between planetary orbits around the Sun and our measure of time.
Key Words
year
orbit
terrestrial planet
outer planet
Materials
"New" Age Chart
calculators
Background
Your birthday is actually a celebration
of a trip made by Earth around the Sun one time. For each trip around
our star we "age" one year... or at least that is how we humans express
it. How "old" are you on the other eight planets in our solar system?
Procedure
1. Figure your age in Earth days. [your age x 365] ______________
2. For the terrestrial planets, divide your age in Earth days by the number of Earth days in a planet's year. The answer is your "new" age.
Example for Mercury - for a person 20 years old on Earth:
20 x 365 = 7300 Earth days old
7300 / 88 (Earth days in Mercury's year) = 83
The 20
Earth-year-old person would be 83 years old on Mercury!
3. For the outer planets, find the number of Earth days in each planet's year. Then divide your age in days by the number of Earth days in that planet's year. The answer is your "new" age.
Example for Jupiter -
for a person 20 years old on Earth:
20 x 365 = 7300 Earth days old
12 Earth years x 365 Earth days/year = 4380 Earth days in one Jupiter
year.
7300 / 4380 = 1.7
The 20
Earth-year-old person would be 1.7 years old on Jupiter!
4. Follow the examples and fill in the blanks in the "New" Age Chart.