How long is a parsec?

[Nessoldaccount]

That's the question.

 

[JellyBaby]

If you take the second star to the right, it's 3.26 light years.

 

[etech]

Give JellBaby a gold star for today.

http://itss.raytheon.com/cafe/qadir/q345.html
from
http://itss.raytheon.com/cafe/qadir/aphymis.html

 

[The Dancing Peacock]

it's a measure of distance. Okay this is from memory from my Astro 3 class, so it might not be especially clear,

It is the distance that it takes for 1 astronomical unit, 93 million miles, the distance from the earth to the sun, to subtend 1 second of arc. Meaning that you have to be so far away that 93 million miles has to appear to be 1 second of arc. In astronomy the use degrees, minutes and seconds to measure distance across the sky, similar to longitude and latitude.

sorry if that was convoluted, maybe there's a rocket scientist on that can do better.


late.


TDP

 

[XMan]

1 parsec = 3.26 light years
1 light year = 63,240 astronomical units
1 astronomical unit = 149,598,073 kilometers
149,598,073 kilometers = average distance from the Earth to the Sun

How far is a light year? The most distant planet in our solar system, Pluto, is a paltry 38 AU from Earth. Jupiter is only 5.2 AU, practically "next door."