Question

After the sun, the closest star to Earth is Proxima Centauri, and the next closest star is Rigel Kentaurus (Alpha Centauri). Rigel Kentaurus is about 4.3 light-years from Earth. How many parsecs away is Rigel Kentaurus? Round your answer to the nearest tenth of a parsec.

Answer 1

The closest star to Earth after the sun, Rigel Kentaurus (Alpha Centauri), is about 4.3 light-years away. To convert this to parsecs, we divide by 3.26 (since 1 parsec is 3.26 light-years), resulting in approximately 1.3 parsecs when rounded to the nearest tenth.

Step-by-step explanation:

The distance between Rigel Kentaurus (Alpha Centauri) and Earth is about 4.3 light-years. To convert this distance into parsecs, we use the conversion factor that 1 parsec is equivalent to approximately 3.26 light-years. Therefore, we can calculate the distance in parsecs by dividing the distance in light-years by the conversion factor.

To find the distance to Alpha Centauri in parsecs, we divide 4.3 light-years by 3.26 light-years per parsec, which equals approximately 1.32 parsecs. After rounding to the nearest tenth of a parsec, we find that Alpha Centauri is about 1.3 parsecs away from Earth.