Lesson Plan: Units of Astronomy: The Astronomical Unit (AU)
This lesson plan includes the objectives, prerequisites, and exclusions of the lesson teaching students how to convert between the astronomical length unit and meters and between the astronomical length unit and light-years.
Objectives
Students will be able to
- recall that the astronomical unit is a unit of length approximately equal to the distance between Earth and the Sun,
- recall that the astronomical unit has a value of m to 3 significant figures,
- convert between AU and m or km,
- convert between AU and ly.
Prerequisites
Students should already be familiar with
- light-years.
Exclusions
Students will not cover
- parsecs,
- elliptical orbits or their properties,
- perihelions and aphelions.