We always hear about galaxies millions of lightyears away... how many earth years in a light year?

Answer 1

its a measure of distance rather than time...
a light year is the Distance it takes light to travel in 1 year.

light travels at a constant speed of 186,282.397 miles per second. (in a vaccum)
so an object 1 light *second* away is ~186,300 miles away.

the moon is 1.2 light Seconds away.
the sun is approx 8 light Minutes away.
this gives some perspective as to just how far a million light years would be...

Answer 2

A light year is the distance that light travels in a vacuum in 1 (Earth) year; 5.88 trillion miles or 9.46 trillion kilometers.. It's not a measurement of time per sey. A light year is not like a moon year or a Saturn year, etc. A year is the amount of time in which any planet completes a revolution round the sun..

Answer 3

Oh my... Where to begin?

I'm glad you brought your question to the community, it is clear that the state of science education in the United States continues to decline. This is not your fault, though I do hold George Bush accountable in part.

To answer your question I must inform you that you have been misled to believe that light years are a measure of time, similar to Earth years.

A light year is a measure of distance on the scale of enormous distances - the kinds of distances that exist between stars in our galaxy.

By definition, a light year is the distance light will travel in one standard Earth year (365 days).

Now - think about this...

In the vacuum of space, light travels at a speed 186,000 miles per second.

For reference, the distance to the moon is 250,000 miles. So light can travel from Earth to the moon in less than 2 seconds.

Now - imagine the physical distance that light would travel if continuously speeding through space at 186,000 miles per second for an entire year????? It is an enormous, unfathomably large distance.

Yet - to educate you on the vastness of space- the nearest star system the centauri system (alpha-centauri) is 4.1 light years away.

Meaning - if you were travelling at 186,000 miles every second continuously for more than 4 years that's how long it would take you to get to the nearest star...

And - this all being said - if your species is able to get past this period of troubled adolescence, it is conceivable that your childrens, childrens, children may not only exist but be able to travel such distances to ensure the survival of your species.

This will only be possible if your nations are capable of embracing and investing in Science. You will need to renounce and move away from politicians that are ANTI-SCIENCE such as George W. Bush - the worst President in recent American history, an utter failure, and a devoutly anti-scientific war monger.

Live long and prosper - and KEEP STUDYING SCIENCE...

Answer 4

One.

However, One Light Year is about 6 Trillion Miles.

Answer 5

1 light year = 9.4605284 × 10^15 meters, this is how far light travels in one earth year.

Answer 6

One.