Units & Distance
Measurements and distance scales in astronomy 10 Terms
Angular size is the apparent angle an object spans in the sky as viewed from Earth, regardless of its physical size or d...
An arcminute (symbol: ' or arcmin) is 1/60th of a degree, used for medium-scale angular measurements.
An arcsecond (symbol: " or arcsec) is 1/3600th of a degree, the standard small-angle measurement in astronomy.
The average distance from Earth to the Sun.
An Astronomical Unit is the average distance between Earth and the Sun, serving as a fundamental measuring stick for the...
A kiloparsec equals 1,000 parsecs (3,260 light-years), used primarily for measuring structures within galaxies.
The distance light travels in one year.
A megaparsec equals one million parsecs (3.26 million light-years), the standard unit for cosmological distances.
Parsec
⭐A unit of astronomical distance equal to about 3.26 light-years.
Redshift z
⭐⭐⭐Redshift quantifies how much light has been stretched to longer (redder) wavelengths, serving as both a velocity and dis...