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Convert Pole to Light Year (pole to ly) instantly with accurate, readable results.
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Pole (also rod or perch) - traditional surveying length
Pole is a historical Imperial/US surveying unit equal to 16.5 feet. Used in land measurement, parcel descriptions, and traditional fencing
- Symbols: rd (rod), p (perch); no standard symbol for “pole”
- System: Imperial/US customary (historic surveying)
- Exact relations: 1 pole = 16.5 ft = 5.5 yd = 1/4 chain = 25 links = 1/320 mi
- Metric equivalents: 1 pole = 5.0292 m (exact)
- Typical examples: fence runs; plot dimensions in old deeds (e.g., “4 poles 3 links”)
Light-year (ly) - astronomical distance
Light-year is an astronomical distance equal to the distance light travels in vacuum in one Julian year. Used for interstellar and intergalactic scales; based on c = 299,792,458 m/s and a Julian year of 365.25 days (31,557,600 s)
- Symbol: ly
- System: Astronomical (non-SI, accepted for use with SI)
- Defined relation: 1 ly = c × 31,557,600 s = 9.4607304725808×10^15 m ≈ 9.4607×10^12 km
- Other relations: 1 ly ≈ 63,241.077 AU; 1 ly ≈ 0.306601 pc; 1 pc ≈ 3.26156 ly
- Typical examples: Proxima Centauri ~4.2465 ly; Milky Way diameter ~1.0×10^5 ly; Andromeda Galaxy ~2.5×10^6 ly