# MandysNotes

Friday, 14 March 2014 01:41

## Table of Distances

By  Gideon
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Below is a table of various distances in various units that are important in astronomy and astrophysics.

Key:

= the radius of Ceres, the largest asteroid in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

= the radius of the Moon.

= the radius of the Earth.

Light Second is the distance light travels in one second.

Earth-Moon is the mean distance between the Earth and the Moon.

= the radius of the Sun.

AU is an astronomical unit, the mean distance between the Earth and the sun (defined to be exactly 1.49597870700 $$\times 10^{13} cm$$).

Jupiter-Sun is the mean distance between the sun and Jupiter.

$${\bf iR_{KB}}$$ is (approximately) the inner radius of the Kuiper Belt

Light Year is the distance light travels in one year.

$${\bf oR_{OC}}$$ is (approximately) the outer radius of the Oort Cloud

$${\bf D_{\alpha}}$$ is (approximately) the distance from our sun to the star Alpha Centauri.

Parsec is the distance of an object from our sun that generates a parallax of one second of arc.

$${\bf D_{EMW}}$$ is roughly the distance from our sun to the center of the Milky Way Galaxy.

$${\bf R_{MW}}$$ is roughly the radius of the Milky Way Galaxy.

$${\bf R_{OU}}$$ is roughly the radius of the observable universe.