Distance in space is not measured the same way as distance is measured on Earth. Using distances like meters or kilo meters in outer space is like using a scale to radius of the Earth. Distances in space are seriously high.
Light Year :
The most prominent and common unit to measure distance in space is the light-year.
A light-year is the distance travelled by a light ray in one year in vacuum.
Light travels at an amazing speed of about 300,000 kilometres per second.
Light Year :
The most prominent and common unit to measure distance in space is the light-year.
A light-year is the distance travelled by a light ray in one year in vacuum.
Light travels at an amazing speed of about 300,000 kilometres per second.
So, in an year, light travels the distance of 9.4605284 × 1015 meters.
The second nearest star to Earth (Proxima Centauri) is at a distance of 4.3 light-years.
Andromeda, our nearest galaxy is at a distance of 2.3 million light-years from us.
Astronomical Unit (A.U.) :
An astronomical unit (A.U.) is one of the smallest unit of cosmic-measurements. An Astronomical Unit in other words is the distance between the Earth and the Sun that is, about 93 million miles.
A.U. are usually used to measure distances just within our solar system.Mercury is 1/3rd of an A.U. from the Sun and Pluto is about 40 A.U. from the Sun.
Parsecs :
To measure distances longer than a light year, astronomers use the Parsec unit (pc).
One parsec is equivalent to 3.26 light-years. A parsec stands for "Parallax of one arc second".
A parsec is 3.08567758 × 1016 meters.
Kilo parsec :
A kilo parsec or a kpc is one-thousand parsecs. A kiloparsec is 3.08567758 × 1019 meters.
Megaparsec :
A megaparsec or mpc is one million parsecs. 3.08567758 × 1022 meters.
Andromeda, our nearest galaxy is at a distance of 2.3 million light-years from us.
Astronomical Unit (A.U.) :
An astronomical unit (A.U.) is one of the smallest unit of cosmic-measurements. An Astronomical Unit in other words is the distance between the Earth and the Sun that is, about 93 million miles.
A.U. are usually used to measure distances just within our solar system.Mercury is 1/3rd of an A.U. from the Sun and Pluto is about 40 A.U. from the Sun.
Parsecs :
To measure distances longer than a light year, astronomers use the Parsec unit (pc).
One parsec is equivalent to 3.26 light-years. A parsec stands for "Parallax of one arc second".
A parsec is 3.08567758 × 1016 meters.
Kilo parsec :
A kilo parsec or a kpc is one-thousand parsecs. A kiloparsec is 3.08567758 × 1019 meters.
Megaparsec :
A megaparsec or mpc is one million parsecs. 3.08567758 × 1022 meters.
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