There are many units of distance that are used to measure astronomical
distances.
The distance light travels in one year is called a light year. We
use light years to describe the distances of nearby stars. A parsec
is 3.26 light years. Astronomers use this unit of distance more frequently
than the light year. Far away black holes and even more distant galaxies
are kiloparsecs away. "Kilo" means 1000, so a kiloparsec is 1000
parsecs. The Galactic Center is about 8 kiloparsecs away.
|
The RXTE Learning Center is a service of the
Astrophysics Science Division
at
NASA/GSFC. Meet the RXTE Learning Center Team! What is the 'R' in RXTE?
Responsible NASA Official:
|