A Conversation for The Number 206265
approximately
Marjin, After a long time of procrastination back lurking Started conversation Jun 11, 2001
I think you are oversimplifying.
The number should be 180*60*60/pi = 206264.8062471 plus some infinite number of decimals.
Astrnomers probably do not like radians because this unit is to large for practical purposes like measuring the angular distance between objects in the sky. Like the speed of light c, the radian is a nice natural constant, independent of accidental and varying units like the Astronomical unit, the second and the meter.
In the real h2g2 this number would be completely irrelevant, as it is based on local earth-units, and there is no more earth. I am interested in which units te handbook will use for distance and/or time, maybe something related to the diameter of the galaxy, the 'galactic year' or the age of the universe.
approximately
SetupWeasel Posted Jan 9, 2002
True enough, but you'd have to be doing a sensitive problem to be using a better approximation. Six significant digits is usually plenty.
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