Okay folks (all two of you who read this), Nick Forfinski has correctly answered the mystery question of the significance of the number 206265 (I personally like 206264.8, i think the extra sig dig makes it look better). So the rest of you can put down your slide rules and flux capacitors, Nick beat you to it.
The distance from the earth to the sun is often called an 'astronomical unit' or AU by astronomers. The distance to the closest star is called a parsec and is roughly 3.26 light years away. One parsec is, by definition, 206265 AU's. Astronomers have all sorts of ingenious calculations they do to figure out things like the angle subtended by two stars, or the distance to a star, or between two stars. And this number helps them do it. I'm sure they all know it by heart. (I bet Yoshi knows it) If you're still burning with curiousity after this introduction, just go onto google and type in astronomical unit, or parsec. (I'm talking to you Jakob!)
So there you have it. Oh yes, it's also quite effective at converting arcseconds to radians.
And, as Nick pointed out, one parsec is equal to 30,8000,000,000,000 km. I think.
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Jakob's in bed finally. Another late night(CLC meeting) ... but he will be in to check on this tomorrow. I'll make sure! It'll make for some interesting research.
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