By The Metric Maven

Bulldog Edition

When it comes to distance, the larger metric prefixes are generally neglected. Astronomers feel justified in using Astronomical Units to describe distances within the solar system. When distances become large enough, the ubiquitous light-year is then employed with great relish and awe. One of the arguments offered for the absence of the larger metric prefixes in astronomy, is that the distances are just too large, and the metric system is overwhelmed. The distances are just too astronomical for the metric system to handle!—or even convey their vastness! Generally, this manner of argument masks a provincial desire by a specialty of engineering or science to have its “own” special measurements. It is also stated that people can only relate to Km and smaller metric measures because the other distances are outside of their everyday experience.

I have had the privilege of working with some incredibly talented engineers, including the Engineer, who designed the high gain dish antenna which resides on the front of the Voyager spacecraft. His name is Michel, and I once shared an office with him. The Voyager antenna would at one time have been within millimeters of Michel, it was then moved about 4000 Kilometers away from him so it could be launched into space on September 5, 1977 (1977-09-05). It ascended from our planet, which has a circumference of 40 Megameters. Michel’s antenna then passed the orbit of the moon which is about 384 Megameters from Earth. One could argue that the Voyager spacecraft was now in the realm of the solar system. At that point, its distance from the sun might be a more meaningful reference point to describe its distance from us. The Earth is approximately 150 Gigameters from the sun.

Gigameters is a useful length to describe the distances of our planets from the sun, as well as the current location of the Voyager spacecraft (2014-04-04). Michel’s antenna is part of the singular human-constructed object we call Voyager 1, and is further away from the Earth than any other space probe in history—and likely to remain so. Despite the fact that Voyager is now beyond our solar system, its distance is still readily describable in terms of Gigameters. Below is a table of planetary distances and Voyager 1 and 2:

I don’t recall any astronomers ever using Gigameters in school or on television, even though it is a convenient unit. Astronomers define their own “yardstick” which they call an astronomical unit. This astronomical unit is defined as the distance from the earth to the sun, therefore 1 AU = 150 Gigameters. I don’t see why modern astronomers, by which I mean astronomers who have been born after 1960, don’t use Gigameters instead. The prefix Giga was officially adopted in 1960. A Gigameter is certainly as convenient of a unit as an AU, and it’s tied to the meter, which is the universal measurement length used by science, and by 95% of the worlds population. When a person, even an American, sees the symbol Km, they see kilometers. The lack of use of the designation Gm for Gigameters by astronomers makes it unfamiliar and seemingly awkward. It is only the lack of general use which makes this so.

When Astronomers begin to describe distances outside of our solar system, they generally turn to another unit they coined which is unique to astronomers—the light-year. Wikipedia gives the definition of a light-year as:

1 light-year = 9460730472580800 metres (exactly)

This is where, if I were forced to write it in meters, I would use the three digit space convention to parse it. The three digit grouping allows a person to identify the appropriate metric prefixes with ease:

1 light-year = 9 460 730 472 580 800 metres (exactly)

This expression allows one to immediately recognize the metric prefixes as one moves from right to left as: one, Kilo, Mega, Giga, Tera, Peta, and determine that 1 light-year = 9.461 Petameters (Pm). In my view the light-year is more of a “gee whiz” measurement metaphor than an actual length. It is like the kilowatt-hour. There is a metric prefix which is of sufficient magnitude to describe distances which have magnitudes in terms of light-years and it is Peta. The hypothetical Oort cloud is believed to be about 7.5 Petameters away, which when compared with stars, it not far away.

Almost everyone knows that alpha-centari is the star closest to Earth (other than the sun). It is 4.366 light-years distant. This is 41.4 Petameters. So even when we are discussing the distances to stars, there is a sufficient metric prefix. The light year is not required, at least not after 1975, when Peta was adopted as a metric prefix. Here is a list of nearby stars, and a more distant one in Petameters:

Betelgeuse is a red giant which is in the upper left corner of the constellation Orion. On a clear night in Montana, when I lived far away from the city lights, I could clearly see its red color. Stars beyond Betelgeuse are at distances that may require the introduction of another metric prefix. This would be the prefix Exa. One could categorize stars which are “near” earth as those up to 1000 Pm and those beyond 1 Em (Exameter) as “far away” stars. This would make Alpha-Centari, Barnard’s Star and Sirius all nearby stars. Far away stars would include Betelgeuse (6.1 Em) and Rigel (7.7 Em). The farthest currently known star which is still inside of the Milky Way Galaxy is UDF 2457. It is 558 Em distant.

When we approach the dimensions of the Milky Way Galaxy, we may want to describe the distances from the galactic center. The diameter of our galaxy dwarfs the distance from the sun to Betelgeuse. It is 1 000 000 Petameters across or, shifting metric prefixes, is approximately 1 Zettameter (Zm) in extent. From this information, we know that no star within our galaxy is more than a zettameter away.

Interestingly, we can directly see a distance which is much farther than the dimension our galaxy with the unaided eye. The nearest spiral galaxy is Andromeda, and it can be viewed with the “naked eye.” The Andromeda Galaxy is 2 540 000 light-years away or approximately 24 Zettameters (Zm). This is rather close. It is only 24 times the diameter of our galactic disk. The Andromeda galaxy is expected to collide with our Milky Way Galaxy in 3.75 billion years and form a large elliptical galaxy. Andromeda is not the nearest galaxy overall. The Sagittarius Dwarf Elliptical Galaxy is actually a satellite Galaxy of the Milky Way, that is, it orbits our galaxy. It is only 0.77 Zettameters from our galaxy (or 766 Exameters). This places it just a couple of hundred Exameters beyond the farthest known star within the Milky Way Galaxy.

Here is a short list of local group galaxies which are over one Zettameter away:

Sextans B is near the end of what is known as the local group of galaxies. The local group encompasses a diameter of about 100 Zettameters (Zm). Clearly there are lots of galaxies which are further away, so which one is the farthest known? The current candidate for the furthest galaxy is MACS0647-JD which is a whopping 125 825 Zettameters (Zm). We can see that we are well beyond a 1000 difference. Has the metric system let us down because of this astronomical distance? No, it has not, at least not since 1991. In 1991 both the Zetta prefix, and the Yotta prefix were added. The Yotta prefix allows us to write the distance to the farthest confirmed galaxy as 126 Yottameters (Ym). The end of the observable universe is approximately 435 Yottameters (Ym). The diameter of the universe is 870 Ym. Astronomical distances do not crush the metric system. There is no need for astronomers to resort to a light-year or AU or parsecs to describe astronomical dimensions. The metric system can in fact be useful to classify astronomical distances. For instance:

The latest incarnation of Cosmos has been interesting to watch, but I can only wince when I hear Neal deGrasse Tyson use miles, billions of kilometers, astronomical units, and light-years to describe the cosmos. This archaic measurement usage seems like a lack of respect for the metric system on the part of the Cosmos producers. It is 34 years after the original series was aired. When the original Cosmos aired, the Zetta and Yotta prefixes had not been added to SI. One could see why metric might not have been invoked. Indeed, SI was not large enough to encompass the universe, but like the universe, it expanded. Unfortunately, the root cause for the lack of the metric system in Cosmos could possibly have an even less desirable origin—it could just be unawareness. It is even possible it is the product of a culturally encouraged unfamiliarity. This culturally sanctioned ignorance, if that is the root source, was fortified at the same time as the first airing of Cosmos in 1980. It was in that year that Ronald Reagan quashed any possibility of measurement reform in the US, by disbanding the metric board. This disbanding was an attack on modernity and efficiency, mantled in a red herring of cost savings. It was a narcotic of intellectual flattery perpetrated by a cultural embargo, which has numbed the minds of the American public to the spectrum of metric prefixes, and in turn, it has cost lives. If there is another edition of Cosmos 34 years from now, I can only hope, that by then, it uses the metric system.

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This essay was edited on 2016-10-15 to conform with The Elements of Bile.