# Gigametre

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1 gigametre =
SI units
1.000×106 km 1.000×109 m
Astronomical units
6.685×10−3 AU 105.7×10−9 ly
US customary / Imperial units
621.4×103 mi 3.281×109 ft

A gigametre (American spelling: gigameter, symbol Gm) is a unit of length in the metric system, equal to one billion metres, the SI base unit of length, hence to 1,000,000 km or approximately 621,370 miles.

Gigametres (from the Greek words gigas = giant and metro = count/measure) are rarely seen in practical use, because they are too big for any terrestrial tasks. However, gigametres are sometimes used in astronomy to measure the distance of companion objects such as planets from their stars including our Sun alongside with astronomical units (AU).[citation needed]

## References

1. ^ Emilio, Marcelo; Kuhn, Jeff R.; Bush, Rock I.; Scholl, Isabelle F. (March 5, 2012), "Measuring the Solar Radius from Space during the 2003 and 2006 Mercury Transits", arXiv, retrieved March 28, 2012