If so 500 light years would be how many days or years?
2006-09-08 14:42:56 · 11 answers · asked by Crazy Joe 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Other - Science
a light year is the distance light can travel in one year. Light travels at 186,000 miles per second. So if you were to take 186,000 x 60 = Light travels in one minute. Multiply that number by 60 and that is how far light has traveled in one hour. Multiply that number by 24 and you have the day. Multiply that by 365 and that is the distance light travels in one year.
So to answer your question about 500 light years....500 light years is 500 years. To get days you would multiply 500 by 365 for days. Of course if you were wanting to get real specific, you would have to add leap year days every 4 years.
Light can travel 16070400000 miles in one day
Light can travel 5865696000000 miles in one year
Light can travel 2932848000000000 miles in 500 years
2006-09-08 15:00:51 · answer #1 · answered by WTF1029 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Years and days are a time measurement applicable on earth. Light year is a distance measurement and it refers to the lenght or distance that light (traveling at the speed of light) will travel during an Earth year.
Space distances are so huge, that it would be imposible to use miles, or similar. For example, our galaxy, the Milky Way, is a huge elipse that is approximately 100 light years in wide, 50 light years in long, and only 5 light years deep.
2006-09-08 14:53:31 · answer #2 · answered by avll 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
A light year is the distance light travels in a year.
Its a way to measure distance. Light travels about 5,878,482,164,161 miles in one earth year. That is a light year.
So 500 light years would be 500 earth years, but its a measure of distance not time. So 500 light years would be 2,939,241,082,080,500 miles. More distance than you could ever imagine traveling.
2006-09-08 14:45:40 · answer #3 · answered by amosunknown 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Light years is a measure of distance, not time. A light year is the distance light travels in one year.
Since the speed of light is 3*10^8 m/s, 500 light years=
(500 yr)(3*10^8 m/s)(3600s/h)(24h/d)(365d/yr) = 4.7304*10^19 = 4.73*10^16 km. This is 116 times the distance to the nearest star, and 300,000,000 the distance from the earth to our sun.
2006-09-08 14:44:59 · answer #4 · answered by Rachel S 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Light years is a measure of distance, not time. Light travels at 186,000 miles per second in a vaccuum. That means it can travel about 6,000,000,000,000 (six trillion) miles in a year. 500 light years would be 3 quadrillion miles. 3,000,000,000,000,000 miles. 500 light years is 500 years of travel at light speed. The distance to Pluto is several light weeks, if that helps.
2006-09-08 14:47:34 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Lightyear doesn't measure Time, it measures distance travelled. Which I believe is roughly 6 trillion miles in one year or so. Not bad. And the furthest planet would be light hours, not years. The nearest Star, is light years (around 4.3 light years?).
2016-03-27 03:29:25 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
a light year is the distance light travels in a year (not taking leap year into consideration).
500(#of light years) x 186,000 miles per second (speed of light) x 60 (seconds in a minute) x 60 (minutes in an hour) x 24 (hours in a day) x 365 (days in a year)= 2,932,848,000,000,000 miles
2006-09-08 14:51:30 · answer #7 · answered by Traveler 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The first answer is yes. They can be measured anyway you want to. The second answer is no, I'm not going to do your homework for you.
2006-09-08 14:49:04 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
NO, the numbers would br too huge
2006-09-08 14:53:31 · answer #9 · answered by Bonnie R 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_year
2006-09-08 14:50:22 · answer #10 · answered by harsh_bkk 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋