The astronomical unit is a unit of length and is used in the Astronomical system of units and denoted by the symbol au.
It represents the average distance between the Earth and the Sun which is approximately 150 million kilometres (or 93 million miles).
It's used mostly to express distances within our Solar System.
The parsec is a unit of length and is used in the Astronomical system of units. It is denoted by the symbol pc.
It is equal to 3.26156 ly (light years) which is approximately 31 trillion kilometres (19 trillion miles). It's used to measure huge distances to objects and planets outside of our Solar System.
It was first brought into use by Herbert Hall Turner (a British Astronomer) in 1913 and was invented to use in calculations of astronomical distances to make it easier in calculations using raw data.