Its name derives from the astronomical terms parallax (par) and arc-second (sec), with a parsec marking the distance at which one astronomical unit is opposite and delimits an angle of one arcsecond. ![]() ParsecĪ Parsec is a unit of length used to measure the distances between objects located beyond our solar system, and is equal to 3.26 light-years (19 trillion miles/31 trillion km). ![]() Nevertheless, Voyager 1 will not reach another star for almost 40,000 years, even at its incredible speed. In 2012, Voyager 1, traveling at 38,525 miles/hour (62,000 km/ hour), or 326,000,000 miles a year (3.5 AU per year), finally passed the heliopause after 35 years in space, although it has still a considerable distance to cover if the theoretical Oort cloud located 100,000 AU (1.87 light-years) away is taken to represent the end of our solar system. The distance between the Sun and the furthest planet Neptune, for instance, is around 30.1 AU (4.50 billion km), with the end of the solar system (heliopause) located around 100 AU from the Sun. Brightest Stars of Orion: Rigel (864.3 ly) and Betelgeuse (642.5 ly)Īstronomers use the distance between the Earth and the Sun as an astronomical measurement, with this length of space of about 93 million miles (150 million kilometers) referred to as an Astronomical Unit (AU). ![]() Nearest Major Galaxy ( Andromeda): 2 million ly.Earth to Centre of Milky Way: 27,000 ly.Nearest Star ( Proxima Centauri): 4.2 ly.
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