How Long Is A Light Year In Earth Time
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.
How long is a light year in earth time. Light travels a whopping 9 460 528 000 000 km in a year equivalent to 5 878 499 562 555 miles. A light year is the distance a beam of light travels in a single earth year or 6 trillion miles 9 7 trillion. A beam of light from this star takes about 4 years to travel to earth. How far is 40 light years.
A light year is a measurement of distance and not time as the name might suggest. When we use powerful telescopes to look at distant objects in space we are actually looking back in time. 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. Light travels at a speed of 186 000 miles.
So how far does light go in a year. To obtain an idea of the size of a light year take the circumference of the earth 24 900 miles lay it out in a straight line multiply the length of the line by 7 5 the corresponding distance is one light second then place 31 6 million similar lines end to end. How can this be. That is a 6 with 12 zeros behind it.
In february 2017 astronomers detected seven earth sized planets orbiting a single star 40 light years away from earth. A light year is the distance light travels in one earth year. One light year is about 6 trillion miles 9 trillion km. Looking back in time.