Chapter 2 UNITS AND MEASUREMENTS Class 2

Some important practical units of length

Astronomical unit (AU)

Astronomical unit is the average distance between the sun and the earth
1 AU = 1.496 x1011 m

Light year (ly)

It is the distance travelled by light in one year in vacuum
1 ly = 9.46 x1015 m

Parallactic second or parsec

Parsec is the distance at which average radius of earth’s orbit subtends an angle of 1 arc
second
1 parsec = 3.08 x1016 m

Angstrom unit (Ao)

1 A0= 10-10 m

Measurement of large distances

Parallax method
Parallax: Parallax is defined as the apparent shift of a body with respect
to another with the shift of the eyes

To find the distance D of a far away object S by parallax method we look at it

from two positions A and B separated by a distance b . If θ radian is the angle
between the two directions then
θ = b/D (θ = arc/radius)
Or D = b/θ
This method can be used to measure the distance of moon from earth, distance
of sun from earth etc