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  2. Parsec - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parsec

    3.261 56 ly. The parsec (symbol: pc) is a unit of length used to measure the large distances to astronomical objects outside the Solar System, approximately equal to 3.26 light-years or 206,265 astronomical units (AU), i.e. 30.9 trillion kilometres (19.2 trillion miles). [a] The parsec unit is obtained by the use of parallax and trigonometry ...

  3. Astronomical unit - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronomical_unit

    Distance of the outer limit of Oort cloud from the Sun (estimated, corresponds to 1.2 light-years) – Parsec: 206,265 – One parsec. The parsec is defined in terms of the astronomical unit, is used to measure distances beyond the scope of the Solar System and is about 3.26 light-years: 1 pc = 1 au/tan(1″) [6] [61] Proxima Centauri: 268,000 ...

  4. Light-year - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light-year

    A light-year, alternatively spelled light year (ly or lyr[3]), is a unit of length used to express astronomical distances and is equal to exactly 9,460,730,472,580.8 km (Scientific notation: 9.4607304725808 × 10 12 km), which is approximately 5.88 trillion mi.

  5. Unit of time - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unit_of_time

    The TU (for time unit) is a unit of time defined as 1024 μs for use in engineering. The Svedberg is a time unit used for sedimentation rates (usually of proteins). It is defined as 10 −13 seconds (100 fs). The galactic year, based on the rotation of the galaxy and usually measured in million years.

  6. Observable universe - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Observable_universe

    So if the matter that originally emitted the oldest CMBR photons has a present distance of 46 billion light-years, then the distance would have been only about 42 million light-years at the time of decoupling. The light-travel distance to the edge of the observable universe is the age of the universe times the speed of light, 13.8 billion light ...

  7. List of nearest stars - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_nearest_stars

    The star, whose mass is roughly half that of the Sun, is currently 62 light-years from the Solar System. It was first noticed in 1999 using data from the Hipparcos satellite, and was estimated to pass less than 1.3 light-years (0.40 pc) from the Sun in 1.4 million years. [ 73 ]

  8. Stellar parallax - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stellar_parallax

    Stellar parallax is most often measured using annual parallax, defined as the difference in position of a star as seen from Earth and Sun, i.e. the angle subtended at a star by the mean radius of Earth's orbit around the Sun. The parsec (3.26 light-years) is defined as the distance for which the annual parallax is 1 arcsecond.

  9. Apparent magnitude - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apparent_magnitude

    Absolute magnitude is defined as the apparent magnitude that a star or object would have if it were observed from a distance of 10 parsecs (33 light-years; 3.1 × 10 14 kilometres; 1.9 × 10 14 miles). Therefore, it is of greater use in stellar astrophysics since it refers to a property of a star regardless of how close it is to Earth.