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writer_girls)
For all of you science fiction/science fantasy writers...
There are two ways astronomer measure the distance between stars, light years and parsecs. A light year is the distance light travels in on eyear in a vacuum. A parsec has to do with parallax (the fact near things seem to move with respect to distant things if you lok at them form a different position). A parsec is the distance for which the parallax is one arcsecond (1/3600 of a degree) -- it's about 3.26 light years.
Astronomers give ligth years out to the public and to students, but most of them use parsecs (or kiloparsecs, or megaparsecs) themselves.
Thank you. Any further space/astronomy questions? I'll be here all week!
writer_girls)For all of you science fiction/science fantasy writers...
There are two ways astronomer measure the distance between stars, light years and parsecs. A light year is the distance light travels in on eyear in a vacuum. A parsec has to do with parallax (the fact near things seem to move with respect to distant things if you lok at them form a different position). A parsec is the distance for which the parallax is one arcsecond (1/3600 of a degree) -- it's about 3.26 light years.
Astronomers give ligth years out to the public and to students, but most of them use parsecs (or kiloparsecs, or megaparsecs) themselves.
Thank you. Any further space/astronomy questions? I'll be here all week!
