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About these units
Decimeter (dm)
The decimeter, equal to one-tenth of a meter, is a metric unit that sees intermittent use, largely because centimeters and meters are more common in everyday measurements. Nevertheless, the decimeter is valuable in contexts that require moderate precision without resorting to large decimal numbers—for example, in hydrology, where water depths or precipitation levels may be expressed in decimeters to simplify statistical modeling. Rare in general conversation, the decimeter appears more frequently in scientific literature and educational settings. Physical scientists sometimes use decimeters when working with volumes measured in cubic decimeters, which correspond exactly to liters. The existence of the decimeter demonstrates the metric system's scalable format, even when a specific unit is overshadowed by its neighbors.
Parsec (pc)
A parsec is equal to 3.26 light years, or approximately 3.0857 × 10¹⁶ meters. It is defined based on the method of stellar parallax, the apparent shift in a star's position caused by Earth's orbit around the Sun. Specifically, a star at a distance of one parsec exhibits a parallax angle of one arcsecond (1/3600 of a degree). Because its definition emerges directly from geometric measurement techniques, the parsec became the standard astronomical unit for professional research. Parallax-based distances are foundational to the cosmic distance ladder — the sequence of methods by which astronomers measure distances from nearby stars to the farthest galaxies. The parsec is widely used in astrophysics because calculations involving gravitational dynamics, luminosity, or galactic structure often become more intuitive in parsecs than in light years. Although less familiar to the public, it is the preferred unit in scientific publications, planetary catalogs, and distance mapping of the Milky Way.