AU - The Astronomical Unit

www.astronomy.page

The astronomical unit represents the average distance from the Earth to the Sun. It is used as a unit of measurement in astronomy like the light year. There are roughly 63,241 astronomical units in a light year and it takes about 8 minutes and 18 seconds for light to travel from the Sun to the Earth.

The astronomical unit has since 1976 been precisely defined as a derived constant, equal to 149,597,870.691 kilometers or 92,959,993 miles, give or take a few meters. You might want to research further to learn more about the interesting history of this measurement and the scientific methods used to calculate it today.

In astronomy texts you may see the astronomical unit abbreviated as AU or au or a.u. or ua.

Our club has chosen AU as the name for our astronomically inclined collective. We gather periodically and sometimes spontaneously to share in the joy and the wonder of our universe, as witnessed in the night sky.