![]() ![]() Sample task: convert 2 parsecs to light years. Light years to parsecs conversion example Light-Year Measurement Astronomers also employ other types of measurements, specifically the parsec (pc). Of course, using our pc to ly converter above is much easier. See the example below for a detailed calculation. Knowing that 1 parsec equals 3.26 light-years, to convert from pc to ly one needs to divide the measurement in parsecs by 3.26 in order to get the light-years equivalent. It can be argued that the light year is therefore a more suitable unit for distances on the astronomical scale. ![]() A lightyear is the distance that light can travel in one year. Astronomers use 'megaparsecs' a megaparsec is 1 million parsecs for intergalactic distances, or the scale of distances between the galaxies. In terms of converting units of parsec to lightyears, one parsec is equal to 3.26 lightyears. On the other hand, light years express the distance covered by light in one year's time and while a year is an Earth-based time slice, it does not depend on other quantities except for the speed of light which is a universal constant. The origin of this unit of measure is a little more complicated, but it's related to how astronomers measure widths in the sky. One light-year is the distance that light travels in a year, through the vacuum of space. This makes it ill-suited as a universally applicable unit. ![]() One is the radius of our planet's orbit and the other is the choice to divide a circle in 360 degrees. The parsec is defined as the distance at which a star will show an annual parallax of one arcsecond, meaning it is based on two arbitrary quantities, characteristic of an Earth-based observer. Parsecs were historically used because distances between astronomical bodies were measured using the trigonometric parallax method. Difference between Parsecs and Light years ![]() Measuring Masses: One a.m.u.: It is defined as 1/12 th of the mass of one atom. The international symbol for light years is "ly" whereas for parsec it is "pc" so using this notation 1pc = 3.26ly. A light-year (ly), parsec (pc) are used to measure the distance between stars and the astronomical unit is used to measure the distance between planets. With accuracy to six decimal places, one parsec is equal to 3.261563 light years.
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