How Far Is A Light Year In Miles
A light year is 5 878 625 373 183 6 miles.
How far is a light year in miles. A light year can also be described as an astronomical unit of measuring astronomical distances in space. Note 1 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. A light year abbreviated ly is the distance light travels in one year. 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.
Light travels at a speed of 186 000 miles or 300 000 km per second. Different abbreviations are used to represent factors of a light year. This wonderful coincidence enables us to bring the light year. Since light travels at a speed of 186 000 miles per second a light year covers a total of 5 878625 trillion miles in one year.
Roughly 9 46 1012 kilometres 9 46 petametres or about 5 88 1012 nearly six trillion miles. More specifically a light year is defined as the distance that a photon would travel in free space and infinitely far away from any gravitational or magnetic fields in one julian year 365 25 days of 86400 seconds each. 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. And a light year is 63 241 astronomical units 1 astronomical unit or au is the average distance from the earth to the sun.
That is a 6 with 12 zeros behind it. A light year is the distance light travels in one earth year. But a light year isn t. How can this be.