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What is an Astronomical Unit?

 , updated on January 15, 2017
An astronomical unit (AU) is a unit of length that's used to measure distances in space. It is roughly the distance between the Earth and the Sun or about 150 million kilometers, approximately 93 million miles.
The Earth and the Sun are at different distances over the course of a year, so the average is used. The exact average is surprisingly difficult to calculate and has changed a few times over the years. An Astronomical Unit is currently standardized to 149,597,870,700 meters.
Astronomical Units are a rare example of a measurement that is not at human scale. That is to say that most standard measurements evolved from things that humans directly experience. Astronomical Units are far beyond typical human experience and are used to explain distances that humans can only imagine. For example, the distance from the Sun to the center of the Milky Way is 1,700,000,000 AU.
Example Distances in Astronomical Units
Light-minute0.12 AU
Light-year63,241 AU
Distance to Sun1 AU
Proxima Centauri
The nearest star outside our solar system		268,000 AU
Overview: Astronomical Unit
AreaSpace
DefinitionA unit of length used to measure distances in space defined by the average distance of the Sun from the Earth over a year.
Kilometers149.597 Million
Miles92.955 Million
Symbol AU, au, ua
Related ConceptsFermi Paradox
Spacecraft
Human Scale

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