Most people don't know off-hand that Pluto is ~40-50AU from the sun, so 700AU is hard to conceptualize.
Side note: Apart from AU already being defined as average distance and not current distance, the distance referenced is how far out the proposed object is now, not its general orbital parameters. At that orbital distance 23 years of motion isn't going to be much change in distance even if it's in a hyperbolic orbit.
Hell, it's been nearly 2 decades since Pluto was itself planet 9. Just bringing the name up in a discussion about planets is going to cause more confusion.
Or four days travel at the speed of light, to an outside observer. Or instantaneous for anyone travelling at the speed of light.
Time units are more approachable than distances I will never cross.
() Not really, I'm using artistic hyperbole.
https://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/features/cosmic/nearest_star_i...
~30-50AU if you are referring to the range of orbital distance.
Most people won't even have the slightest idea what 1 AU is. Most people know less about most topics (including space) than the original ChatGPT (3.5) did — probably only people who at least started a degree with a space sciences module are likely to know more than 3.5, and I expect plenty of space.com readers to be enthusiastic amateurs rather than professionals.
That said, I do I expect the average reader of space.com to know what an astronomical unit is, but even so I don't expect them to know the average orbital distance of Pluto.
But is even that assumption my quartz?
