astronomical unit

Earth-Sun distance measure

An astronomical unit is a standard measure of distance in space, defined as the average distance from Earth to the Sun—about 93 million miles or 150 million kilometers.

Abbreviated AU, it provides a convenient scale for describing distances within our solar system: Mars orbits at roughly 1.5 AU from the Sun.

cosmic scaleUniverse-sized frame of reference
distanceSpace between two points
ephemerisCelestial body position chart
perihelionOrbital point nearest sun
Earth orbitPath around our planet

vast distances · barycenter · space · sun · solar orbit · measure · baseline measurement · planetary science · million · speed of light · earth · deep space · parallax · solar system · outer planets · Kepler · Jupiter · celestial

Categories

astronomystars, moon, sun, planet, planets
solar systemsun, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn
Length Unitsinch, foot, feet, yard, mile
math & science termspi, infinity, zero, billion, million
Astronomy Unitslight-year, light year, parsec, pc, megaparsec
measurementsheight, stature, meters, depth, pound

Opposites

scale of distance measurement

astronomical unitlight-year

Astronomical distance measure

nanometer · angstrom · parsec · picometer · femtometer

domain of application

astronomical unitmeter

Device that measures usage

kilometer · mile · foot · inch · centimeter

Family

unit, astronomy, astrology, astronomical, astronomer, astrologer, astronomers, astrophysics, astronomic

Familiarity: Top 500,000
Profile: Used worldwide · Timeless · Abstract · Rated G