Light Years to Parsecs Converter - Version 1 Need a quick and easy way to visually discover the difference between light years and parsecs? Light Years to Parsecs Converter is the way to go! Simply watch conversions appear before your eyes as you slide up and down the measurement scale! Its that easy. You will soon discover general relations between light years and parsecs visually. Light Years to Parsecs Converter is a great tool for both teacher and student alike! A parsec is about 3.085 678 E+16 meters in length! The name parsec (parallax second) was suggested by Herbert Hall Turner. Other suggestions were astron, siriometer. A light year is the distance light travels in a year. Commonly used to measure the distance between stars and galaxies.