4.2 Light Years In Miles

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At start glance, yous may recall that a light year is a measure out of time given that it has the word twelvemonth in information technology. Light years are actually a measure of distance that uses lite equally a standard. If you lot have ever told a friend you are about five minutes away, you have likewise used time as a mensurate of altitude.^[ane] The distances between stars across the universe are very great, so astronomers utilise light years as a larger unit than miles or kilometers. To summate the bodily altitude of a light year, you lot just demand to multiply the speed of low-cal by the number of seconds in a twelvemonth.

one
Define the light year. A low-cal year is a measure of altitude equal to how far light travels in one Earth twelvemonth. Because distances across the universe are and then large, astronomers use light years. Without calorie-free years, discussing the distance between two stars would require the use of large, unruly numbers.^[ii]
- Some other mensurate of altitude you may run into when learning astronomy is the parsec. Information technology is equal to 3.26 lite years. Information technology is another way to simplify the numbers used to calculate and discuss astronomical distances.^[3]
2
Write the formula for distance. Using the mutual physics formula, distance equals rate times time or d = r 10 t, you tin can summate how long a low-cal year is: Lite Yr = (speed of calorie-free) x (one year). Since speed of light is represented by the variable "c", you tin can rewrite the equation as d = c x t, where d is the altitude of a lite yr, c is the speed of light and t is time.^[four]
- If you want to know the distance of a light year in kilometers, yous will need to find the speed of lite in kilometers per second. If yous want miles, you will need the speed of light in miles per second.
- You need to know the number of seconds in ane Globe year for this calculation.
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iii
Define the speed of low-cal. Light in a vacuum travels at a velocity of 186,000 miles per second. This is the equivalent of 299,792 kilometers per 2d or 670,616,629 miles per hour.^[5] Here we will utilize the velocity in miles-per-second.
- For this calculation we will use the speed of light, c, equals 186,000 miles per 2nd. This tin can be rewritten in scientific notation equally 1.86 10 10⁵ miles per 2nd.
four
Summate the number of seconds in a year. To notice the number of seconds in a year, you will do a serial of multiplications past conversions units. To catechumen years to seconds y'all will multiply the number of days in a year times the number of hours in a day, times the number of minutes in an hr, times the number of seconds in a minute.
- one yr 10 365 days/twelvemonth x 24 hours/solar day x threescore minutes/hour ten 60 seconds/minute = 31,536,000 seconds.^[6]
- Again, we can rewrite this large number using scientific notation as iii.154 x ten⁷.
5
Plug variables into equation and solve. Now that yous accept defined the variables for speed of low-cal and time, you lot can plug them into the equation d = c x t and solve for the distance of a light year. Replace c with i.86 x 10^v miles per 2d and time with three.15 x 10^vii seconds.^[vii]
- d = c x t
- d = (1.86 ten x^v) 10 (3.154 ten 10⁷ seconds)
- d = five.eight 10 10¹² or 5.8 trillion miles.
half dozen
Calculate the altitude in kilometers. If you lot wanted to calculate in kilometers, simply supplant the speed of light with the speed in kilometers per 2nd: 3.00 x 10^five. The time in seconds remains the aforementioned because at that place is no conversion required.^[8]
- d = c 10 t
- d = (3.00 x 10^v) x (iii.154 x 10⁷ seconds)
- d = ix.46 x 10¹² or ix.5 trillion kilometers.

1
Place the distance you desire to convert. Before you begin, you will desire to make sure that any distance y'all are working with is either in miles (if using Imperial units) or in kilometers if working with metric. It doesn't brand much sense to catechumen smaller distances into lite years, but you lot tin if y'all're curious.
- To convert anxiety into miles, remember that there are 5,280 anxiety in a mile: x ft (1 mile/5280 ft) = miles.^[9]
- To convert meters into kilometers, simply split by 1000: ten k (ane km/k yard) = km.
2
Make up one's mind the correct conversion gene. Yous need to identify the units for the distance that yous're converting to low-cal years. If you're converting from kilometers to light years, you will use a dissimilar conversion cistron than if you lot're converting from miles.
- To convert from kilometers to lite years, you will use: 1 light twelvemonth/(9.46 x ten¹² km).^[10]
- To convert from miles to lite years, you lot will use: 1 low-cal year/(5.88 x 10¹² miles).^[11]
3
Multiply the original altitude by the conversion factor. One time you take determined the proper conversion cistron, yous can multiply by the original distance to obtain the distance in light years. When numbers are big, it is best to use scientific notation.
- For instance: If you knew that an object was approximately 14.ii ten 10¹⁴ miles away from Earth, how many light years would that be?
- Utilise the miles conversion gene: 1/(5.88 x 10¹²)
- Multiply: (14.2 x 10¹⁴) x (1/(five.88 10 10¹²)) = 2.41 x 10^two = 241 light years.
- The object is 241 calorie-free years away.
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Find assistance. You tin can ever ask for assistance from your teacher and beau students. There are also many resources online and in your text book to help you when converting to calorie-free years. Don't hesitate to ask for extra assistance if you need it.
- Remember, there are always multiple ways to get aid when looking for an answer.

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Question

Is it true that if our sun all of a sudden blew upwardly, we wouldn't know information technology for 8 minutes?

Yep, slightly more than eight minutes.
Question

How do I convert light year into km?

One lite year is 9.5 million million km, so multiply the number of low-cal years by 9.5 one thousand thousand 1000000 (or 9.v trillion).
Question

How do I calculate how many low-cal years Blastoff Centauri is from the lord's day?

Information technology cannot be calculated, simply observed. For example, the observed stellar distance of Alpha Centauri from World is 4.367 light years.

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Article Summary X

Ane light year is equal to five.8 trillion miles. To calculate this number, apply the formula d = c × t, where d is 1 low-cal year, c is the speed of light, and t is the number of seconds in 1 year. The speed of light is equal to 186,000 miles per 2nd, or the time it takes for lite to travel in a vacuum. The number of seconds in i year is equal to 31,536,000 seconds. Plug these values into the formula and solve for d. For more help, similar how to convert distances into lite years, read on.

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