: a unit of measure for interstellar space that is equal to 3.26 light-years and is the distance to an object having a parallax of one second as seen from points separated by one astronomical unit
Examples of parsec in a Sentence
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To wrap your mind around that distance, 1 parsec is equal to 3.26 light years or about 206,265 times the distance from Earth to the Sun.
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Justin Ray, Robb Report, 14 June 2023
The surface of a planet within one parsec of the Milky Way’s center could reach over 5,700 kelvin, as hot as the sun’s surface, just from dark matter traffic.
—Max G. Levy, Wired, 3 May 2021
The clustered filaments are especially compelling as they are regularly spaced from each other, with roughly one parsec between them.
—Joshua Rapp Learn, Discover Magazine, 13 May 2022
What, then, can astronomers do to determine whether the final parsec problem is really a problem?
—Alison Klesman, Discover Magazine, 12 July 2019
This is a huge region; for comparison, ten kiloparsec is about the radius of a typical spiral galaxy like our own Milky Way, and a parsec itself is already pretty big, at more than three light-years.
—Stephon Alexander, Wired, 31 Aug. 2021
Recently astronomers settled on a value of 25 parsecs (82 light-years) above the plane, but our results strongly disagree with this estimate.
—Mark J. Reid, Scientific American, 17 Mar. 2020
The problem comes in the final parsec, where gravity is not strong enough to overcome the centrifugal force of each black hole’s orbit to pull the pair closer together.
—Nola Taylor Redd, Scientific American, 10 Feb. 2020
In this new version, Greedo pulls the trigger first in a wild shot, missing Han by half a parsec.
—Alex Horton, Washington Post, 13 Nov. 2019
Justin Ray, Robb Report, 14 June 2023
The surface of a planet within one parsec of the Milky Way’s center could reach over 5,700 kelvin, as hot as the sun’s surface, just from dark matter traffic.
—Max G. Levy, Wired, 3 May 2021
The clustered filaments are especially compelling as they are regularly spaced from each other, with roughly one parsec between them.
—Joshua Rapp Learn, Discover Magazine, 13 May 2022
What, then, can astronomers do to determine whether the final parsec problem is really a problem?
—Alison Klesman, Discover Magazine, 12 July 2019
This is a huge region; for comparison, ten kiloparsec is about the radius of a typical spiral galaxy like our own Milky Way, and a parsec itself is already pretty big, at more than three light-years.
—Stephon Alexander, Wired, 31 Aug. 2021
Recently astronomers settled on a value of 25 parsecs (82 light-years) above the plane, but our results strongly disagree with this estimate.
—Mark J. Reid, Scientific American, 17 Mar. 2020
The problem comes in the final parsec, where gravity is not strong enough to overcome the centrifugal force of each black hole’s orbit to pull the pair closer together.
—Nola Taylor Redd, Scientific American, 10 Feb. 2020
In this new version, Greedo pulls the trigger first in a wild shot, missing Han by half a parsec.
—Alex Horton, Washington Post, 13 Nov. 2019
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'parsec.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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“Parsec.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/parsec. Accessed 26 Apr. 2024.
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