Measuring distance in outer space requires units far greater than ones we use on Earth. Depending on the audience, astronomers and astrophysicists use different units of measurement. To other scientists, they will use the Astronomical Unit (AU) to describe distance within our solar system and the parsec (pc) to describe distances between stars and other galaxies. When describing distance to non-scientists, scientists will usually describe space distance in terms of light years (LY), the distance light can travel in one year (9,500,000,000,000 kilometers).
Instructions
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1
Calculate AUs using the average distance between Earth and the Sun, or 150 million kilometers, to describe the distance. For example, Pluto is approximately 40 AU from the Sun, or 6 billion kilometers.
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2
Convert AUs to parsecs to compute the distance between other objects in space using this ratio: 1 pc = 206265 AU.
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3
Determine the distance in light years by dividing the distance of the object in space by 9,500,000,000,000 kilometers/year.
