astronomical unit
(AU)
(about 93 million miles)
An astronomical unit (AU) is a distance unit intended
to convey the distance between the Earth and the Sun,
or more specifically the mean of the Earth's orbit's
aphelion and perihelion. However, it is now fixed at
149597870700 meters, considered a reasonable fixed unit to
approximate the Earth-Sun distance. It is commonly used for
distances within the solar system and other star systems,
e.g., for orbital radii. An AU is equivalent to:
- about 150 million km.
- about 93 million miles.
- 4.848 × 10-6 parsecs.
- 1.581 × 10-5 light-years.
Some distances in AU:
(distance,unit,Earth,Sun,astronomy)
Further reading:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronomical_unit
Referenced by pages:
Achernar
astronomical quantities
Avogadro's number (NA)
Beta Centauri
Beta Pictoris b (β Pic b)
Ceres
10199 Chariklo
direct imaging
Earth
evaporating gas globule (EGG)
escape velocity (Ve)
extra-solar planet
51 Eridani b
51 Pegasi b (51 Peg b)
giant star
GJ 1132 b
Gliese 436 b (GJ 436 b)
Haumea
HD 189733 b
HD 209458 b
HD 80606 b
heliopause
heliosheath
heliosphere
Hills cloud
hot Jupiter (HJ)
HR 8799
Jupiter
Kepler-16b
Kepler-452b
Kuiper Belt (K Belt)
LHS 3844 b
light-year (ly)
Mars
Mercury
mole (mol)
Neptune
occultation observations
Oort Cloud
parallax
parsec (pc)
Planet Nine
planetary migration
Pluto
Poynting-Robertson effect
protoplanetary disk (PPD)
radial velocity (RV)
red giant
Rigel
Saturn
Scholz's Star
Schwarzschild radius
Sedna
67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko (67P)
snow line
solar constant
Spitzer Space Telescope (SST)
supergiant
trans-Neptunian object (TNO)
TOI 700 d
Ulysses
Uranus
Venus
Voyager
WASP-33b
WASP-67b
wide binaries (WB)
Index