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The astronomical unit is too small to be convenient for interstellar distances, where the parsec and light-year are widely used. The parsec (parallax arcsecond) is defined in terms of the astronomical unit, being the distance of an object with a parallax of 1″. The light-year is often used in popular works, but is not an approved non-SI unit ...
where θ is the measured angle in arcseconds, Distance earth-sun is a constant (1 au or 1.5813 × 10 −5 ly). The calculated stellar distance will be in the same measurement unit as used in Distance earth-sun (e.g. if Distance earth-sun = 1 au , unit for Distance star is in astronomical units; if Distance earth-sun = 1.5813 × 10 −5 ly, unit ...
The astronomical unit of length is now defined as exactly 149 597 870 700 meters. [4] It is approximately equal to the mean Earth–Sun distance. It was formerly defined as that length for which the Gaussian gravitational constant (k) takes the value 0.017 202 098 95 when the units of measurement are the astronomical units of length, mass and ...
Stellar parallax is the basis for the parsec, which is the distance from the Sun to an astronomical object that has a parallax angle of one arcsecond. (1 AU and 1 parsec are not to scale, 1 parsec = ~206265 AU) Stellar parallax is the apparent shift of position of any nearby star (or other object) against the background of distant stars.
The astronomical unit (AU) is the canonical distance unit for the orbit around the Sun of the combined Earth-Moon system (based on the formerly best-known value). The corresponding time unit is the (sidereal) year)), and the mass is the total mass of the Sun (M ☉). [a]
A parsec is the distance from the Sun to an astronomical object that has a parallax angle of one arcsecond (not to scale). 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).
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The lunar distance is on average approximately 385,000 km (239,000 mi), or 1.28 light-seconds; this is roughly 30 times Earth's diameter or 9.5 times Earth's circumference. Around 389 lunar distances make up an AU astronomical unit (roughly the distance from Earth to the Sun).