Canonical Units
In astrodynamics, A canonical unit is a unit of measurement defined in terms of an object's reference orbit. In this system, a reference mass, for example the sun, is assumed to be 1 "mass unit" and the mean distance from the orbiting object to the reference object is considered the "distance unit".
Canonical units are useful when the precise distances and masses of objects in space are not available. However, by setting the mass of a given object to be 1 mass unit and the mean distance of the reference object to another object in question, many calculations can be simplified.
Read more about Canonical Units: Overview, Astronomical Unit
Famous quotes containing the words canonical and/or units:
“If God bestowed immortality on every man then when he made him, and he made many to whom he never purposed to give his saving grace, what did his Lordship think that God gave any man immortality with purpose only to make him capable of immortal torments? It is a hard saying, and I think cannot piously be believed. I am sure it can never be proved by the canonical Scripture.”
—Thomas Hobbes (1579–1688)
“Even in harmonious families there is this double life: the group life, which is the one we can observe in our neighbour’s household, and, underneath, another—secret and passionate and intense—which is the real life that stamps the faces and gives character to the voices of our friends. Always in his mind each member of these social units is escaping, running away, trying to break the net which circumstances and his own affections have woven about him.”
—Willa Cather (1873–1947)