Would it surprise you to know that there is a unit of length that is specifically the distance between the earth and the sun?
It’s called Astronomical Unit.
Comment on why don't people say mega meters
kinttach@lemm.ee 8 months ago
On Earth it’s just not needed. In nearby space it could make sense — distance to the Moon is 369 Mm. Distance to the Sun 149 Gm. But people aren’t good at visualizing the difference between kilo-, mega-, and giga-. It isn’t obvious from those numbers just how much further away the Sun is.
rainynight65@feddit.de 8 months ago
leftzero@lemmynsfw.com 8 months ago
For interplanetary space and beyond the time it takes for light to cross the distance makes more sense, I’d say. The moon is about half a second away, the sun about eight minutes, Alpha Centauri or Barnard’s about four years, and so on…