I heard about the new planet that has been discovered outside of our solar sytem. I also heard that it could take 20 light years to reach it. What is the difference between a light year & a normal year, plus how much time would it take to reach it (months, years etc?)
2007-04-25 09:02:35 · 10 answers · asked by sportsfan 3 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
Ok, let me rephrase that. How long does it take to travel 1 light year?
2007-04-25 09:11:45 · update #1
20 light years is a measure of distance, not time, despite the word "year" in the name. One light year is 6 trillion miles so 20 light years is 120 trillion miles. How long it takes to travel that far depends on how fast you go. At 600 miles per hour, which is about the speed of an airliner, it would take 200 billion hours, which is about 23 million years. At the speed of the fastest space craft man has yet built, the one that is on the way to Pluto now at a speed of about 40,000 miles per hour, it would take 3 billion hours, which is 342,466 years.
It is REALLY far away.
2007-04-25 09:34:42 · answer #1 · answered by campbelp2002 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I think you mis-interpreted the report. The planet is 20 light years away, a light year being the distance that light travels in a year. This means that travelling at the speed of light it would take you 20 years to get there. As this is not possible it would take considerably longer, probably thousands of years to get there with today's technology.
2007-04-26 00:29:54 · answer #2 · answered by andy muso 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Why do people have trouble with a light-year? When we talk miles per hour, people understand it as a speed, even though it involves a distance and a time.
You can talk about light-minutes and light hours - for instance the sun is 8.3 light minutes from us, and Neptune more than 4 light-hours.
these are distances - get it firmly in your head.
2007-04-25 10:05:11 · answer #3 · answered by nick s 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
a light year is the distance that light can travel is a year. As speed travels at 670,616,629.384 miles per hour (approx 670million miles per hour), and there are 8736 hours in a year a light year is a distance of 5.83 'Trillion' miles, therefore they are saying that the plant is about a 100 Trillion miles away. gees
Therefore, if you went at walking pace, or 3mph, it would take you about 3.7 Billion years, or in concorde about 5.7million years.
2007-04-25 09:15:23 · answer #4 · answered by mafewoooooo 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
A light year is a measure of distance. It is how far light travels in one year.
2007-04-25 09:06:44 · answer #5 · answered by robotron77 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
a light year is the DISTANCE a beam of light would travel in a year - dont know what that is in miles or whatever
2007-04-25 09:06:45 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
If you travel at 187,000 miles per second for 365 days. That is one light year.
2007-04-25 10:41:50 · answer #7 · answered by Spanner 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
A light years is a DISTANCE. not a time.
Its the distance light travels in a year.
Please check your article again.
2007-04-25 09:06:54 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
A "Light Year" is like a "Light Beer"... less filling... tastes great... I can drink lots of beers in a year...
2007-04-25 09:17:46 · answer #9 · answered by Kiowa1 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
well i think the speed of light travels at 186,000 miles per second so i'll let you work it out from there!!
2007-04-25 09:14:05 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋