1 parsec in au

Unit of length in astronomy

For other uses, see Parsec (disambiguation).

The parsec (symbol: pc) is a unit of length used to measure the large distances to astronomical objects outside the Solar System, approximately equal to 3.26 light-years or 206,265 astronomical units (AU), i.e.

30.9 trillionkilometres (19.2 trillion miles).^[a] The parsec unit is obtained by the use of parallax and trigonometry, and is defined as the distance at which 1 AU subtends an angle of one arcsecond^[1] (⁠1/3600⁠ of a degree).

The nearest star, Proxima Centauri, is about 1.3 parsecs (4.2 light-years) from the Sun: from that distance, the gap between the Earth and the Sun spans slightly less than one arcsecond.^[2] Most stars visible to the naked eye are within a few hundred parsecs of the Sun, with the most distant at a few thousand parsecs, and the Andromeda Galaxy at over 700,000 parsecs.^[3]

The word parsec is a shortened form of a distance corresponding to a parallax of one second, coined by the British astronomer Herbe

how big is a parsec in miles

how long is a parsec in km