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Convert Parsecs to Lightyears (pc to ly) ▶ Conversion Table
How to convert1 lightyear (ly) = 0.306594845 parsec (pc). Lightyear (ly) is a unit of Length used in Metric system. Parsec (pc) is a unit of Length used in Metric system. Lightyear: A Unit of LengthThe lightyear is a large unit of length used to express astronomical distances and is equivalent to about 9.46 trillion kilometers (9.46 × 10^12 km), or 5.88 trillion miles (5.88 × 10^12 mi). As defined by the International Astronomical Union (IAU), a lightyear is the distance that light travels in a vacuum in one Julian year (365.25 days). The lightyear is most often used when expressing distances to stars and other distances on a galactic scale, especially in non-specialist contexts and popular science publications. In this article, we will explore the definition, history, usage and conversion of the lightyear as a unit of length. Definition of the LightyearThe lightyear is a unit of length that is equal to the product of the Julian year and the speed of light. The Julian year is a unit of time that is equal to 365.25 days or 31,557,600 seconds. The speed of light is a physical constant that is defined as 299,792,458 meters per second. The symbol for lightyear is ly. The definition of the lightyear can be derived from the following formula: 1 ly = 1 Julian year × speed of light 1 ly = 31,557,600 s × 299,792,458 m/s 1 ly = 9,460,730,472,580,800 m 1 ly = 9.46 × 10^15 m History of the LightyearThe concept of the lightyear as a unit of distance was first proposed by the German astronomer Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel in 1838. He used it to estimate the distance to some nearby stars based on their parallax measurements. Parallax is the apparent shift in position of an object when viewed from different angles. Bessel calculated that the star 61 Cygni was about 10.3 lightyears away from Earth. The term lightyear was popularized by the British astronomer James Bradley in his book Stellar Movements and the Structure of the Universe (1918). He used it to describe the distances to various stars and galaxies. He also introduced the term parsec as another unit of distance based on parallax. The lightyear was officially recognized by the IAU in 1976 as part of its System of Astronomical Constants. Usage of the LightyearThe lightyear is a unit of length that is used for measuring astronomical distances that are too large to be expressed in other units such as kilometers or astronomical units (AU). An AU is equal to about 150 million kilometers or 93 million miles and is roughly the distance from Earth to the Sun. The lightyear is commonly used in astronomy and cosmology to describe the distances to stars, galaxies, nebulae and other celestial objects. For example:
The lightyear can also be used to measure time intervals in cosmology by relating them to distances traveled by light. For example:
Example Conversions of Lightyear to Other UnitsThe lightyear can be converted to other units of length by using different factors and formulas. Here are some examples of conversion for different types of units:
1 ly × 9.46 × 10^12 = 9.46 × 10^12 km
1 ly × 5.88 × 10^12 = 5.88 × 10^12 mi
1 ly × 63,241 = 63,241 AU
1 ly / 3.26 = 0.31 pc
1 km / 9.46 × 10^12 = 1.06 × 10^-13 ly
1 mi / 5.88 × 10^12 = 1.70 × 10^-13 ly
1 AU / 63,241 = 1.58 × 10^-5 ly
1 pc × 3.26 = 3.26 ly Parsec: A Unit of LengthA parsec is a unit of length that is often used in astronomy to measure the large distances to astronomical objects outside the Solar System. It is approximately equal to 3.26 light-years or 206,265 astronomical units (au), which are the average distances from the Earth to the Sun. One parsec is about 30.9 trillion kilometres or 19.2 trillion miles. Definition of the parsecThe word parsec is a combination of “parallax” and “arcsecond”, which are terms related to the measurement of angles. Parallax is the apparent shift in position of an object when viewed from different perspectives. Arcsecond is a unit of angle that is equal to one sixtieth of an arcminute, or one three thousand six hundredth of a degree. A parsec is defined as the distance at which one astronomical unit subtends an angle of one arcsecond. In other words, it is the distance from which the Earth-Sun distance would appear as one arcsecond on the sky. This can be illustrated by an imaginary right triangle, where the adjacent side is one au, the opposite side is one parsec, and the angle opposite to the parsec side is one arcsecond. History of the parsecThe concept of the parsec was first proposed by the British astronomer Herbert Hall Turner in 1913, as a convenient unit for expressing stellar distances. He coined the term by blending “parallax” and “second”. He also suggested using the symbol “pc” for parsec. The first measurement of a stellar parallax was made by Friedrich Bessel in 1838, for the star 61 Cygni. He found that the star had a parallax of 0.314 arcseconds, which corresponds to a distance of about 10.4 parsecs. Since then, many more stars have been measured for their parallaxes, using various methods such as telescopes, satellites and interferometers. The parsec is now widely used in astronomy and astrophysics, especially for objects within and around the Milky Way galaxy. For more distant objects, such as galaxies and quasars, larger units such as kiloparsecs (kpc), megaparsecs (Mpc) and gigaparsecs (Gpc) are used. How to convert parsecTo convert parsecs to other units of length, we can use the following conversion factors:
To convert other units of length to parsecs, we can use the inverse of these conversion factors:
Where parsec is usedThe parsec is mainly used in astronomy and astrophysics, as it is a convenient unit for expressing distances between stars and other celestial objects. For example:
The parsec can also be used in other fields that deal with large distances or angles, such as geodesy, navigation and surveying. Example conversions of parsec to other unitsHere are some examples of converting parsecs to other units of length:
To convert one parsec to meters, we multiply by the conversion factor: 1 pc × 3.0857 × 10^16 m/pc = 3.0857 × 10^16 m
To convert 10 parsecs to miles, we multiply by the conversion factor: 10 pc × 1.9174 × 10^13 mi/pc = 1.9174 × 10^14 mi
To convert 0.01 parsecs to astronomical units, we multiply by the conversion factor: 0.01 pc × 2.06265 × 10^5 au/pc = 2.06265 × 10^3 au
To convert 100 parsecs to light-years, we multiply by the conversion factor: 100 pc × 3.26156 ly/pc = 326.156 ly
To convert one meter to parsecs, we divide by the conversion factor: 1 m / (3.0857 × 10^16 m/pc) = 3.24078 × 10^-17 pc
To convert one mile to parsecs, we divide by the conversion factor: 1 mi / (1.9174 × 10^13 mi/pc) = 5.21553 × 10^-14 pc
To convert one astronomical unit to parsecs, we divide by the conversion factor: 1 au / (2.06265 × 10^5 au/pc) = 4.84814 × 10^-6 pc
To convert one light-year to parsecs, we divide by the conversion factor: 1 ly / (3.26156 ly/pc) = 0.306601 pc Español Russian Français |
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