Length/Distance 

Convert from astronomical unit to light year

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Unit Definition (astronomical unit)
An Astronomical Unit is approximately the mean distance between the Earth and the Sun. It is a derived constant and used to indicate distances within the solar system. Its formal definition is the radius of an unperturbed circular orbit a massless body would revolve about the sun in 2*(pi)/k days (i.e., 365.2568983.... days), where k is defined as the Gaussian constant exactly equal to 0.01720209895. Since an AU is based on radius of a circular orbit, one AU is actually slightly less than the average distance between the Earth and the Sun (approximately 150 million km or 93 million miles).

Unit Definition (light year)
The distance that light, moving at a constant speed of 300,000 km/s, travels in one year. One light year is about 10 trillion kilometers.


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