Quote:
Originally Posted by Hasslein Curve
I wonder if most folks know the size/length/distance of an AU in real world scientific terms.
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I knew AUs and parsecs before I was out of jr high, but that was strictly due to reading a steady flow of NASA FACTS and science fiction, not from school. And I never have gotten a really good explanation about why they were thought up or used at all, given that light years is more readily understandable and relatable than parsecs, and it seems very egocentric to make the distance from earth to sun a measure of anything. I knew L.A. was 393 miles south of where I lived growing up, but would hardly try to use that as a basis for figuring out how much further south Mexico was located.