When traveling through hyperspace, ships can’t go in straight lines, otherwise, they could collide with asteroids, planets, stars, suns, black holes and other celestial objects. The key is in how to travel through hyperspace works. How is this possible? Some think Han didn’t understand what a parsec was, but given how talented of a pilot he was and that talking about distances in space in units of parsecs was commonplace in the Star Wars universe, this seems unlikely. What Han really meant was that he was essentially able to take a shortcut, cutting the total distance down to less than 12 parsecs instead of 18. The Kessel Run is an 18-parsec long route. But since a parsec is a unit of distance, that reading of Han’s brag wouldn’t make any sense. As if the route he traveled through the Kessel Run was the same distance that any other smuggler would travel, but that the Millennium Falcon was moving at a much higher speed through hyperspace, making the same trip in less time. Han’s famous Kessel Run in 12 parsecs quote makes it seem like he’s talking about speed. The Kessel Run is a smuggler’s route through hyperspace that is used to transport glitterstim spice, an illegal drug, from the planet Kessel. Han brags that the Millennium Falcon is “the ship that made the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs.” This likely comes from the boast that Han Solo makes about the Millennium Falcon when he first meets Luke Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi in Episode IV. One common confusion about parsecs is that they are a unit of time instead of distance. A Common Confusion Comparing Parsec to Lightyear So, while a lightyear is more intuitive in that most people know a lightyear is the distance light can travel in one year, a parsec is more precise.įurther, the system that is used by starship navigators to determine the location of star systems throughout the galaxy is based on parsecs, not lightyears. In addition, it’s possible that Galactic days were shorter than earth equivalents. Since a year on Earth is 365 days, this would change the length of a lightyear in the Star Wars universe. The Galactic Standard Calendar in Star Wars had the length of a year at 368 days. The issue with using lightyears as standard is that the length of lightyear travel depends on how long a year is, which is not necessarily standard. In the Star Wars universe, a parsec appears to be equal to the real-world measurement. Astronomers use parsecs more often than lightyears because it makes math easier, and parsecs are more closely related to the strategies astronomers use to figure out the size of the universe. While some may think that a parsec is a purely fictional measurement because of its widespread use in Star Wars, a parsec is a unit of distance used by real-life astronomers. Using the Gregorian calendar (where a year is 365.2425 days), a lightyear is about 9.461 trillion kilometers. In terms of converting units of parsec to lightyears, one parsec is equal to 3.26 lightyears.Ī lightyear is the distance that light can travel in one year. One parsec is equal to about 30 trillion kilometers. I recommend watching the Khan Academy video Parsec definition which I found helpful.How long is a parsec? A parsec is a unit of distance commonly used when talking about space travel in Star Wars. You are looking 3.26 years in the past because it takes 3.26 years for the light to come from a parsec away. A parsec is so large that if you could see that far that you would be looking in to the past. The mathematical technique used in the calculation is trigonometry. This is what a survey crew does to figure out land plot boundaries. The two positions your finger was at can be used to find the distance from the object. Now, move your finger to block that eye's line of sight. Then close that eye and open the other without moving your arm. Line up your finger so it covers the object from view. Hold your hand out with one finger raised and close one eye. Surveying provides an everyday example of parallax. Parsec or Parallax-arc second is the distance of something that has a parallax angle of one arc second. The International Astronomical Union (IAU) define 1 parsec(pc) as: Parsec or Parallax-arc second is defined as the 'distance' of something that has a parallax angle of one arc second.
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