Aeredor t1_j6ti2mh wrote
I wouldn’t try to measure much in Earth diameters besides other planets. An AU is much more efficient for measuring things the size of a star system, like black holes. (And solar masses is helpful for star sizes of course.) 1 AU = 11,740.7 Earth diameters, so that black hole is like 9 million Earth diameters, if my quick math is correct (not my strong suit lol).
Did I misunderstand your question?
VesperalRhino t1_j6tlh21 wrote
No no you didn't misunderstand, I just thought that AU's were used for measuring space objects wayy bigger than Earth. Thank you for answering though!
Aeredor t1_j6tm7qh wrote
Yep! Or maybe even measure this as 0.01265 light-years to appreciate the size, because 800 AU is massive. Pluto’s semimajor axis is less than 40 AU.
RedMistStingray t1_j6viok7 wrote
AU is NOT used to measure size. It is used to measure distance. 1 AU = the distance of the Earth from the sun (93 million miles). This is not size. It is a distance. It's the same concept why we use different measuring standards. If measuring the length of you table, you use inches. If measuring how far you throw a football, you use yards. If measuring how far you drive, you use miles. AU is just a measurement standard. It makes taking about large distances easier without the numbers being too large to be hard to use and conceptualize. If I drove from one city to another, which is 320 miles away, what if I gave you that distance in inches? It's a huge number and difficult to deal with. After AU, the standard we use is light years.
BrewThemAll t1_j6xkw9l wrote
Size and distance are just the same thing. Stop being overcorrect.
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