2006-08-29 10:00:25 · 14 answers · asked by Yvette C 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
actually, there's two different answers.
first, as you've heard, our light is roughly eight minutes old. this is a simplistic understanding because it lacks any consideration to einstein's theory of relativity... it's only eight minutes old to us on earth at the velocity we're travelling at.
you see, to the photon, which is travelling AT the speed of light time does not pass at all. (time slows down as you approach the speed of light, and stops at the speed of light) So in effect, the age of our daylight is zero because the photon "sees" itself at the sun, passing mars, and hitting earth as all occuring at the same time. it's not the photon that gets eight minutes older in transit, it's us who do while the photon remains exactly the same.
2006-08-29 10:38:55 · answer #1 · answered by promethius9594 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Since our daylight comes from the Sun, it is only as old as long as it takes for the light to be generated by the Sun and then to reach the earth from the Sun and, I think it's about 10 minutes or less since the speed of light is 300,000 meters per second or 186,00 miles per second.
2006-08-29 10:05:28 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
Light doesn't age. So it is not old.
But it takes light about 8 minutes to get from the surface of the sun to earth by a direct path.
But the time to get to earth if the creation of the light in a nuclear reaction in the interior of the sun can take tens of thousands of years or more. The path of the photons inside the sun is anything but straigt and direct.
2006-08-29 10:39:17 · answer #3 · answered by Alan Turing 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
The time it takes light to travel from the sun to the Earth is roughly 8 minutes. The sun itself is thought to be around 4.6 bllion years old.
2006-08-29 10:08:53 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
Approximately 8 minutes.
2006-08-29 10:06:11 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
About 7 minutes.
2006-08-29 10:06:21 · answer #6 · answered by Papa John 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
It takes light 8 minutes to travel from the sun to the earth.
2006-08-29 10:05:45 · answer #7 · answered by Daniel M 2 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Roughly 8 minutes, which is the distance from the sun expressed as light-minutes.
2006-08-29 10:06:51 · answer #8 · answered by joseFFF 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
8 minute 12 sec min, 8 minute 34 sec max
2006-08-29 12:24:59 · answer #9 · answered by Dead 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It's never old. It's always new light shinning down on us in a continual stream.
2006-08-29 10:06:21 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋