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In the real world, we measure distances in space with something called the ‘standard candle’ which uses supernova explosions to measure how far something is in space. We do this because we don’t have the means to actually travel interstellar space but in Star Wars (they obviously can). So I’m thinking they don’t need standard candles? Is there anything in Legends or Canon how they measure distances in an alternative way?

In Legends they used bog-standard lightyears just like we do. Never heard of this 'candle' thing before.

Also there's a matter of Translation convention "Galactic Basic" might not actually be modern English but it's rendered as such, that said I've never heard of "candle" in the context of distance either there's Candela as measure of luminosity but that's not distance. Only units of interstellar distances I know are Parsec and the ones based on the speed of light (Lightyear, Lightsecond and so on).

Using Luminosity as basis for unit of distance seems bound to have massive errors too as we don't know what's between us and the target and things like interstellar dust could dampen the luminosity of an object.

They know how fast hyperdrive is. They can just travel the distance and time how long it takes for anything within the galaxy.

Then we can get to the cosmic distance ladder. The next step is parallax. Right now we can use the orbit of the earth for the baseline and:

Distances can be measured within 10% as far as the Galactic Center, about 30,000 light years away.

Hyperdrive lets them use a much larger baseline. All it takes is sending something out that distance.

Batman wrote: 2024-12-26 03:44pm In Legends they used bog-standard lightyears just like we do. Never heard of this 'candle' thing before.

The standard candle is one way astronomers measure distances. Basically there are astronomical events where the absolute brightness is known, like a type 1a supernova. So they look at how bright it appears to be to us and that lets them calculate how far away it is.

They use lightyears or parsecs for the calculated distance.

Lord Revan wrote: 2024-12-26 07:10pm
Using Luminosity as basis for unit of distance seems bound to have massive errors too as we don't know what's between us and the target and things like interstellar dust could dampen the luminosity of an object.

Yes, there are some issues with standard candles. Astronomers know about them.

But it's the most accurate method we have today for the distances that it gets used for.