3 ms·

why does astrophysics still use ergs

• gammarator 4y ago
  Tradition. (although my postdoctoral advisor claimed our weird units were intended to keep the physicists at bay.)
• defrost 4y ago
  The International Astronomical Union (IAU) and the American Astronomical Society (AAS) routinely issue notes on units and insist that ergs are "deprecated". Various astrophyicists are hardwired by early adoption to to use CGS electromagnetic units and don't feel obliged to follow no union rules . . . no one rejects their papers over units, so <shrug>. https://www.iau.org/publications/proceedings_rules/units/ https://www.iau.org/publications/proceedings_rules/units/
• HyperSane 4y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foe_(unit) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foe_(unit) A foe is a unit of energy equal to 1044 joules or 1051 ergs, used to express the large amount of energy released by a supernova.[1] An acronym for "[ten to the power of] fifty-one ergs",[2] the term was introduced by Gerald E. Brown of Stony Brook University in his work with Hans Bethe, because "it came up often enough in our work".[3]
  • antognini 4y ago
    Indeed, as a former astronomer, ergs are the least of astronomers' sins with units.