How long is a parsec?

Does any one know how long a parsec is? I just wanted to be accurate when i say "it took (blank number of) parsecs" and stuff like that. Thanks

 

That's really anyone's guess since it's technically not a measurement of time, but a measurement of linear space...

~Aanix

 

um, right, ok ?

Are you trying to confuse me, 'cause it's working.

 

Sorry about that. To be a little more specific, Han says it took him "twelve parsecs" to do the Kessel Run, as if he was talking about twelve hours or something. But a parsec isn't a measurement of time, like hours, it's a measurment of length, like miles or kilometers. It's a bit of a continuity error in the Original Trilogy (or at least I've always assumed it was, unless someone can present me with something tha proves it's just a different definition).

Hope that helps

~Aanix

 

Here as well:

Parsec- A unit of a distance equal to that required to cause a heliocentric parallax of one second of an arc, equivalent to 206,265 times the distance from the earch to the sun or 3.26 light years. Used in astronomical measurements.

_PSK_

 

Lucas messed up when he had Han say that line about the Kessel Run. A parsec is a unit of distance.

 

Right, a parsec is a unit of distance used in astronomy (the EU has tried to explain Han's statement by saying that Han didn't have to get within twelve parsecs of Kessel... I suppose that would mean the GFFA had a different definition than ours, since 12 parsecs would put him on the other side of the galaxy). The distance from the earth to the sun is defined as one "Astronomical Unit," and a parsec is defined as the distance at which one astronomical unit subtends (takes up) one arcsecond (1/3600th of a degree) of the sky, roughly 3.26 light years, as PadmeSolo pointed out.

 

This has been explained my LFL before. To fit it in with continuity, Han meant this:

The Kessel run would invovle going around the Maw cluster. Because the gravity of black holes afect a ship more strongly when they are closer, most ships have to stay far away from the Maw. Because the MF is so fast, though, Han was able to pilot it close to the Maw cluster, thereby making his trip a mere 12 parsecs in length. It works if you think of it in this way.

 

hey all...resident astro-geek here

A parsec is, as everyone's been saying a measurement of distance in astronomy..it gets really hard to keep trak of all the zeros when you're talking about other stars--they're so far away that talking about meters is really useless

A parsec is roughly 30,000,000,000,000 kilometers.

The definition comes from how we measure distances...since we cant use a tape measure we use something called paralax--how far something seems to move when you look at it from two locations (to illustrate look at something far away Now close one eye and point to the object. Now without moving your arm, open your eye and close the other...the object will have 'moved...and your arm will no longer be pointing at it..)

astronomers do this same thing, but instead of using our eyes we use the earth...we measure the position of a star, then measure it again six moths later. The star will have moved slightly because of Earth's motion around the sun. When that motion is one arcsecond (1 arcsec=1/3600 degrees) we say the star is one parsec away..

Proxima centauri, our nearest neighbor is a little over one parsec away from us--and ther are lots of stars within 12 parsecs of us (Astronomers consider the surrounding 10parsecs the 'solar neighborhood')

Our galaxy is around 15,000 parsecs in diameter, so a 12 parsec distance isnt that weird.

..man, I'm waaay too much in the TA mode...sorry about the astro lecture...

my advisor actually used the 'kessel run' question on one of his intro astronomy exams--he basically asked the students to explain how that statement could be correct astronomically--one student even drew a pretty good diagram of the Kessel-Corellia system, including a fairly accurate representation of the Maw.

Basically, the only way Han's statement makes sense is if as someone said, he shortened the distance of the trip by flying a wee bit more aggressively than Chewie probably likes to recall--I wouldnt put it past Han to skim the Maw, I mean, the man took on a star destroyer...at least a black hole isnt armed

...well, if that didnt create some interesting mental images...

anyway, back to homework
--boris

 

The Kessel Run is actually a Smuggler's game.

What happens is a carg ship leaves Kessel and then the smuggler ship must catch up to it as quickly as it can to deliver the illegal goods the cargo ship couldn't get off the planet.

Generally smugglers ships were fast enough to get to the goal in about 20 or so parsecs.

Han Solo cheated, cutting through/near the maw, effectively taking a short cut, and made it to the ship in less than 12.

hope that helps.

 

The_Ghost-- Wow! That makes soooo much more sense now!


As for the astronomy, long distances in the galaxy are usually measured in kpc, or kiloparsecs. Whoever said that 12 pc would take you across the galaxy was mistaken-- it's 12 kpc that would do that.

 

Yup, Mcily, that was me, and I was mistaken. I knew that, too! Grrrr... I'll blame the typo gremlins.

 

Oh, WOW!

So are you guys saying a parsec is a real measurment of time?

So i can say "It took (blank amount of hours)" and be right?

 

Um, no. They're saying it isn't a measurement of time at all. They're saying it's a measurement of distance, and a real measurement of distance at that.

 

The typo gremlins are after us. They're the army of Darth Typo.

A parsec is a unit of distance, NOT time!!!

I hope this thread will educate people. We need it.

 

Oh, yeah, I meant distance, not time.

 

The Kessel Run is actually a Smuggler's game.

What happens is a carg ship leaves Kessel and then the smuggler ship must catch up to it as quickly as it can to deliver the illegal goods the cargo ship couldn't get off the planet.

*Blinks* Um, not really, no...

All of the books the Kessel Run has been in has indicated that it's just a very treacherous route past the Maw (Usually, anyway. If you're Han, you're dumb enough to go REALLY close to the Maw) and through an area of space known as "The Pit" -- an asteroid field which is made even more treacherous by the fact that it's within a nebula.

Han's "under 12 parsecs" was explained in the Han Solo Trilogy by saying that he went so close to the Maw that the distortion in space-time caused by the black holes actually shortened the distance of his trip. What you said sounds sort of like LFL's explanation on their "Ask the LFL Jedi Council" feature, but I wouldn't recommend trusting that site. They obviously don't read any of the novels, since they created something of a continuity error with that one.

 

Well, I think LFL kind of overrules the books. I seem to recall another name that people thought Boba Fett really used to have, too.

 

Ok, i think I've got it now.....
GO BRAK!!!

 

Whoo! Yeah, baby! Brak rocks.

"Once, okay, one time, I was sitting in this, in this diner, and this man walks up to me, and he says, 'Hey, buddy, I haven't, I didn't have anything to eat in a long time,' so I bit him! I don't know if I told that right, though..."

 

Ok Ty-gon, we all know that in Hawaiian, Brak means fish food , but lets not get off topic.

 

There is a book called The Science of Star Wars in which the whole parsec being a unit of distance thing is explained, in detail: In essence, it says that, as described in Einstein's special theory of relativity, When an object travels faster than light, instead of actually going faster than light, the distance that the object (ship, in this case) travels, appears shorter to the 'people' on the 'ship'.

In other words, the theory is that Han is bragging that the Falcon traveled so fast that the vast distance between whereever and Kessel was reduced to 12 parsecs.

 

I'll have to check that "Science of Star Wars" book out. Sounds cool.