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About these units
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.
Meter (m)
The meter is the foundational unit of length in the International System of Units (SI) and forms the backbone of virtually all modern scientific and engineering measurements. Originally defined in the late 18th century as one ten-millionth of the distance from the equator to the North Pole along a meridian, the meter's definition has evolved alongside advances in physics and measurement technology. For much of the 19th and 20th centuries, it was tied to a physical bar stored in Paris—an artifact vulnerable to temperature fluctuations and damage. Today, the meter is defined using a universal constant rather than a physical object: the distance light travels in vacuum in 1/299,792,458 of a second. This definition is elegant because it anchors the meter to an invariant physical constant, ensuring precision across laboratories and nations. It allows modern metrology labs to realize the meter through laser interferometry, achieving extraordinary accuracy. The meter's universality and reliability make it the most important single unit of length ever devised.