They then also connect the two positions of the Earth, making line E1E2. Half a year later, when the Sun is on the opposite side of the Earth, they draw another imaginary line from the current position of the Earth (point E2) to the new apparent position of the distant star (point A1), line E2A1. Astronomers draw an imaginary line from the Earth (point E1) to the distant star or an astronomical object (point A2), line E1A2. To calculate a parsec, the effect of parallax can be used, which is an apparent displacement of an object when it is viewed from two different points of view. One arcsecond is equal to 1/3600 of a degree, or about 4.8481368 µrad in radians. One parsec represents the distance from the Sun to an astronomical object, such as a planet, a star, a moon, or an asteroid, which has a parallax angle equal to an arcsecond. It is used more often in popular culture than in astronomical calculations.Ī parsec (pc) is about 30,856,775,814,671,900 meters, or approximately 3.09 × 10¹³ km. It represents the distance that light travels in one Julian year in a vacuum. There is a constant, the unit distance, of the value of one astronomical unit. In astronomy, because of the great distances under consideration, additional units are used for convenience.Īn astronomical unit (AU, au, a.u., or ua) equals 149,597,870,700 meters. One knot equals the speed of one nautical mile per hour.

When calculating speed using nautical miles, often knots are used as units. This allowed for simplified calculations of latitude because every 60 nautical miles were one degree of latitude. Historically it was defined as one minute of arc along the meridian or 1/(60×180) of a meridian. The clearance below the bridge is 220 ft or 67.1 m at tide Distances in Navigation Nanometer (1×10⁻⁹ of a meter), picometer (1×10⁻¹² of a meter), femtometer (1×10⁻¹⁵ of a meter), and attometer (1×10⁻¹⁸ of a meter) are also used. It is also known as micron and is represented by the sign µ. It is commonly used in biology to measure microorganisms, as well as for measuring infrared radiation wavelengths. Sciences like Biology and Physics work with very small distances, therefore additional units are used. Units such as inch, foot, and mile are used where the metric system is not accepted, such as in the USA and the UK. Derivatives of the meter, such as kilometers and centimeters, are also used in the metric system. The basic unit for length and distance in the International System of Units (SI) is a meter. For three-dimensional objects, it is usually measured horizontally.ĭistance, on the other hand, refers to the measure of how far the objects are from each other. Length describes the longest dimension of an object. Its total length is about 1.7 mi or 2.7 km. The Golden Gate Bridge spanning the Golden Gate, the strait that provides an opening between the San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean.

1 parsec in km