How is the distance between earth and pluto calculated?
1 Answer
Aug 15, 2016
For identifiable non-star space bodies, powerful radio signals are sent and we await their return as echo. The distance is
(the interval of time in between) X (speed of light)/2
Explanation:
For stars, parallax method is used to compute distances. For other
identifiable space bodies, powerful radio signals are sent and await
their return as echo. The distance of the space body from us is,
(the interval of time in between) X (speed of light)/2.
Explication with sample data:
Total to and fro travel of powerful radio signals from Earth to Pluto is
10 h 40 m = 38400 s.
The distance is
(38400 s X 299792 km.s)/2 km= 5756 million km, nearly.
