Astronomical unit
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| SI units | |
|---|---|
| 149.60×106 km | 149.60×109 m |
| Astronomical units | |
| 4.8481×10-6 pc | 15.813×10−6 ly}} |
| US customary / Imperial units | |
| 92.956×106 mi | 490.81×109 ft |
The astronomical unit (AU or au or a.u. or sometimes ua) is a unit of length about the same as the mean distance from the center of the Earth to the center of the Sun. The currently accepted value of the AU is 149,597,870,691 meters (usually stated as 150 million kilometers or 93 million miles).
Astronomers usually measure distances within the Solar System in astronomical units. Mars is about 1.4 AU from the Sun, Jupiter lies at roughly 5.2 AU, and Neptune is roughly 30 AU from the Sun.
Astronomical unit is a term that is important to remember and consider when we try to understand the universe.
