Parsec? Is it the Greek organic parsley?

Certainly no. Well, it is most unlikely to have heard the word parsec. Unless, of course, if you are an astronomer either amateur or pro.

So, what is all about? It’s a measure of distance; suitable for very long distances indeed. You won’t use the parsec as a unit of measurement to describe the walking you have to do to visit your local supermarket.  Not even the distance of the city you live to, say, New York. In fact, this is a unit for extra solar system measurements.

To broaden your knowledge, there are three key measurement units that astronomers are using to refer to distances of astronomical sizes: Astronomical unit (AU), Light Year (ly) and Parsec (pc).

• An Astronomical Unit (AU) is the distance between earth and sun; about 150 million km.
• A Light Year (ly) is the distance of about 10 trillion km or 63000 AU.
• A Parsec (pc) is the distance of 3.26 light years. To get an idea of the distance, it should be mentioned that our nearest neighboring star Proxima Centauri lies 1.3 parsecs from our sun.