The distance between Earth and the sun is 1 astronomical unit. How far is that?
How far is Earth from the sun? : Read more
How far is Earth from the sun? : Read more
' "The new definition is much simpler than the old one," said astronomer Sergei Klioner of the Technical University of Dresden in Germany. Both Klioner and Capitaine were both part of the International Astronomical Union group that worked to refine the definition. '
But it is still an arbitrary figure and subject to variations which give rise to aphelion and perihelion.
Cat
Use c.g.s. units, express in centimeters 1 au > 10^13 cmAll this talk, of units reminds me of a story. Discussing French homework in class, one boy read out his answer to a swimming pool, which was approximately a metre deep.
You have guessed! He read out "the pool was approximately 3.280839895 feet deep".
If you say that Neptune is 30 AU distant from the Sun, you are not expecting a reply in feet and fractions of an inch. The new AU, imho, is no more useful in practice than the old 'one'.
Cat