Parsec was a very cool video game that I played long, long ago on my TI 94A computer.Įxcellent info. It stands for 'parallax of one arc second', and is approximately 19,131,554,073,600 (19 trillion) miles. Wonderful stuff, mathematics-I even still remember some of it after more than fifty years since graduation. The parsec (symbol pc) is a unit of length used in astronomy. Yes, indeedy, after all the mathematical fooling around to prove that we really knew trigonometry, it came out to exactly 3.26 light years. One parsec is defined as the distance at which an arc of length one astronomical unit subtends an angle of one second of an arc. The definition of a parsec was: "That distance at which the diameter of the Earth subtends one second of arc" When I was a freshman, we were required in physics to determine the value of a parsec. Is the parsec a relative vector which is adapted to a conventional parameter?Ī comment on Hank's definition of parsec:Ī parsec is the distance at which the diameter of the Earth's orbit, (not of the Earth itself as Hank mistakenly writes) subtends an angle of 1 arc second. I read a book at one time, about 20 years ago, which presented a figure of 63,000 miles as the distance of a parsec.(at least I think that was the statement it was 63 followed by zeros). I always wondered what a parsec was! Thanks, very interesting! October 30, anon29051: You have also mistakenly written the definition.Ī parsec is the distance at which one astronomical unit (roughly, the radius, not the diameter) of the Earth's orbit, subtends an angle of 1 arc second.Īpril 12, anon16328. If you're behind a web filter, please make sure that the domains. Image from NASA.The answer for vctrphsr is a parsec is approx 31 trillion km as stated in the article and for your comment about relative vector: no. Parsec Definition If you're seeing this message, it means we're having trouble loading external resources on our website. The meaning of PARSEC is a unit of measure for interstellar space that is equal to 3.26 light-years and is the distance to an object having a parallax of. A unit of distance useful in astronomy had been defined but was without a name. MACS0647-JD is a candidate for the farthest known galaxy from Earth. The term parsec was coined by British astronomer Herbert Hall Turner in 1913. It would take Voyager more than the age of the universe to get there. One of the farthest known objects in the observable universe is the galaxy MACS0647-JD, which is about 13.3 billion light-years away (or 76,306,276,800,000,002,359,296 sextillion miles away). At this speed, it would take Voyager about 77,000 years to reach Alpha Centauri! The preferred unit in astrometry is the parsec (approximately 3.26 light-years), because it can be more easily derived from, and compared with, observational. For human technology, however, the story is quite different. The Voyager Spacecraft, for example, is currently traveling at approximately 38,000 miles per hour. Therefore, it takes 4.3 years for Alpha Centauri’s light to reach earth. Because the speed of light is only 186,000 miles per second, it can only travel 6 trillion miles in one year. It is said that one parsec is equal to about 3.3 light years. The closest star to earth (other than our Sun) is Alpha Centauri, which is 4.3 light years away (or approximately 25 trillion miles way). Just like the parsec (an abbreviation for Parallax of one arcsecond) and kiloparsec (equivalent to 1,000 parsecs, or KPC for short), the megaparsec (or MPC) is a measurement unit that is used in astronomy to measure the great, vast distance between galaxies in intergalactic space. It is not a measure of time, for which it is sometimes mistaken. Note that the light-year is a measure of distance. The preferred unit in astrometry is the parsec (approximately 3.26 light-years), because it can be more easily derived from, and compared with, observational data. As defined by the International Astronomical Union (IAU), a light-year is the distance that light travels in a vacuum in one Julian year. The light-year is mostly used to express distances to stars and other distances on a galactic scale, especially in non-specialist and popular science publications. Defination :- A parsec was defined as the distance at which one astronomical unit subtends an angle of one arcsecond. One parsec corresponds to the distance at which the mean radius of the earth's orbit subtends an angle of one second of arc. Credit: Atlas of the Universe.Ī light-year, also light year or lightyear (symbol: ly), is an astronomical unit of length equal to just under 10 trillion kilometres (or about 6 trillion miles). It is a unit of distance used in astronomy, equal to about 3.26 light years (3.086 × 10 13 kilometres).
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