1 Light Year

Looking back in time.

1 light year. A light year is the distance that light travels in one year. The nearest star is 4 22 light years away. For general reference there are 63 000 astronomical units in one light year and 63 000 inches 160 000 cm in one mile 1 6 km. One light year equals 5 878 625 370 000 miles 9 5 trillion km.

One light year is equal to 5 8 trillion miles. As defined by the international astronomical union iau a light year is the distance that light travels in vacuum in one julian year 365 25 days. This wonderful coincidence enables us to bring the light year. Light travels at a speed of 186 000 miles.

One light year is about 6 trillion miles 9 trillion km. A light year is a standard of measurement used by astronomers to describe huge distances in the universe. Therefore a light year is exactly 9 460 730 472 580 8 kilometers. The year used by the international astronomical union is 365 25 days.

At first glance this may seem like an extreme distance but the enormous scale of the universe dwarfs this length. To calculate this number use the formula d c t where d is 1 light year c is the speed of light and t is the number of seconds in 1 year. The star proximasad centauri is 4 23 light years away from the earth s solar system. The light year is a unit of length used to express astronomical distances and measures about 9 46 trillion kilometres 9 46 x 10 12 km or 5 88 trillion miles 5 88 x 10 12 mi.

A light year is the distance light travels in one earth year. When we use powerful telescopes to look at distant objects in space we are actually looking back in time. The voyager 1 spacecraft has covered 1 600th of a light year since its launch in 1977 traveling at approximately. How can this be.

As an example it takes 1 3 seconds for light to travel from the earth to the moon and eight hours for a space shuttle to make the same trip. Because it includes the word year the term light year may be.