Parsec/Legends

"It's the ship that made the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs."

- Han Solo, referring to the Millennium Falcon

A parsec was a measurement of distance equal to approximately 3.26 light years.

Behind the scenes
By real world definition, a parsec is 360×60×60/2π Astronomical Units (AU). It is a measurement of distance based on apparent stellar motion as observed from Earth.

Since the Galactic Standard "AU", would be based on Coruscant's orbit (368 days) it would equal 150,349,907,726 meters. This makes a Galactic Standard parsec equal 31,011,894,586,294,500 meters. This is equivalent to 19,247,170,866,776.515 miles.
 * Note, that it is also possible that the Coruscant Day, Hour, etc. are 0.75% shorter than Earth's, in which case, the AU and parsec would be the same length as Earth's.

Earth has a year 365.2424 days long and an AU of 149,597,870,691 meters. This makes an Earth based parsec equal 30,856,775,813,057,300 meters. this is also equal to about 19,173,511,580,000 miles.

The "Decoded" version of the Star Wars: The Clone Wars episode Dooku Captured says that six parsecs equals about 114 trillion miles, although it would be closer to 116 trillion miles using either figure. Coruscant may be closer or farther to its sun than Earth is.

The Essential Atlas says a parsec is 3.26 light-years.

A New Hope Mess-up?
In Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, a boastful Han Solo claims that his spaceship made the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs. This is odd because he says parsec like it is a unit of time, but it really is a unit of distance.

The thing to keep in mind about Solo's claim of doing the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs is that the Kessel Run is through the Maw. Event Horizons around black holes are dependent on the speed at which you are traveling. A standard ship has to do the run in 18 parsecs because to cut the route any closer, the ship would get sucked in. The Falcon, however, is fast enough to straighten the route and cut over 6 parsecs off the distance traveled. This makes sense, since the Falcon's hyperdrive is often rated as a x0.5 faster than a x1 standard (i.e. hyperspeed x1.5), potentially making it 50% faster than standard ships. While this argument may all be after-the-fact justification for an actual scriptwriting error, the logic does hold, although Solo could have just been boasting to his potential clients.

On the other hand, a parsec is a very small unit in astronomical terms, only 3.26 light years. Elementary arithmetic shows that if the Galaxy is the same size as the Milky Way, roughly 30,000 parsecs across, any ship capable of traveling across the galaxy in only a few weeks would travel six parsecs in less than ten minutes-- hardly a significant difference. A similar issue arises in The Courtship of Princess Leia, when it takes more than a week to travel a distance of only seventy parsecs (the stated distance between Dathomir and Coruscant).

If indeed the listener is to believe Han Solo's claim of a twelve parsec Kessel Run, there is also the problem posed by Einstein's special theory of relativity. Under Einstein's theory, no matter may travel faster than the speed of light in real space. Additionally, as any matter approaches the speed of light, time begins to pass much more slowly relative to the surrounding universe. If indeed the Kessel Run is completed in real space in order to traverse the territory around the Maw, the trip would take at minimum (and in practicality much longer) 36 years to complete.

Appearances

 * Rogue Planet
 * Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones
 * Clone Wars Gambit: Stealth
 * MedStar I: Battle Surgeons
 * MedStar II: Jedi Healer
 * Coruscant Nights I: Jedi Twilight
 * Lando Calrissian and the Flamewind of Oseon
 * Lando Calrissian and the Starcave of ThonBoka
 * Han Solo and the Lost Legacy
 * Rebel Dawn
 * Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
 * Tatooine Ghost
 * The Secret Tales of Luke's Hand!
 * Before the Storm
 * Forbidden Planet
 * Edge of Victory II: Rebirth
 * Forbidden Planet
 * Edge of Victory II: Rebirth