Q&A for How to Calculate a Light Year

Yes, slightly more than eight minutes.

One light year is 9.5 million million km, so multiply the number of light years by 9.5 million million (or 9.5 trillion).

It cannot be calculated, only observed. For example, the observed stellar distance of Alpha Centauri from Earth is 4.367 light years.

The sun is an extremely small fraction of a light-year from us. It's more meaningful to think of the sun as being 8.3 light-minutes away. However, to answer your question, the sun is roughly 93 million miles from earth, and light travels at the speed of 5.875 trillion miles in a year. So you would divide 93 million by 5.875 trillion to calculate the distance in light-years.

A light year is not a measure of time. It's a measure of distance. 11,000 light years is the distance light travels in 11,000 Earth years.

It would take roughly seven hundred-thousandths (.00007) of a second.

40 trillion is 40 x 10^12 or 4.0 x 10^13. The conversion factor is one light year equals 9.46 x 10^12 km. Divide 4.0 x 10^13 by 9.46 x 10^12.

The Earth's mass (weight) is calculated at 5.974 x 10^24 kg.

You can't. A good case of this is the Pillars of Creation in the Eagle nebula. We've seen the light from a supernova that could potentially destroy them, but the Pillars are farther away from us than the supernova is, so the light from their possible destruction hasn't reached us yet.

You can't calculate it directly. Astronomers observe the star and use a method called parallax, which gives the distance in parsecs. 1 parsec is about 3.26 light years, so you can convert into light years from parsecs.

It’ll take 53.76 micro seconds. Here is the figure. It takes 1 second for light to travel 186,000 miles. 1 second = 1,000,000 micro seconds. 1,000,000 micro seconds / 186,000 miles = 5.38 micro seconds. So it takes 5.38 micro seconds for light to travel 1 mile. 10 miles x 5.38 = 53.76 micro seconds.

In that step, the mileage involved (14.2 x 10^14 miles) is multiplied by the conversion factor (1 / 5.88 x 10^12), which is the same as dividing by (5.88 x 10^12). 14.2 ÷ 5.88 = 2.41. 10^14 ÷ 10^12 = 10². The final number is 2.41 x 10².

It is approximately 1/365 of a light-year. You can calculate it by taking the light-year distance shown in Method 1 above and dividing by 365.

Light can excite electrons, but cannot provide a kinetic force to any practical or measurable extent.

Distances to relatively close stars are calculated using the principle of parallax. It works only with stars that are not near the plane of Earth's orbit around the sun. The known diameter of Earth's solar orbit is compared to the angle a distant star makes with the Earth's horizon at one time of the year versus the (slightly different) angle formed six months later at the opposite side of the orbit.

The distance from one planet to another is constantly changing, because each planet moves at its own unique velocity in an elliptical orbit around the sun. Astronomers use parallax, the background of stars, and even radio signals to estimate the distance from Earth to the other planets in our solar system. Then they construct a three-dimensional model of the solar system and use it to estimate the distance between planets at any given moment.

The Milky Way is approximately 100,000 light-years (30 kiloparsecs) across, and it is 1,000 - 2,000 light years (0.3 - 0.6 kiloparsecs) thick.

Divide by the length of a light-year, which is 9.46 x 10^15 meters.

(1) It is not really possible to bend time. That expression is a short-cut used in discussing the theory of relativity. (2) A light-year is calculated by multiplying the speed of light by one Earth-year. (Speed multiplied by time equals distance.)

Distance = rate (speed) multiplied by time.

Divide 14.6 billion by 5.88 trillion (the number of miles in a light-year). It's easier if we use exponents: (14.6 x 10^9) / (5.88 x 10^12) = 2.48 x 10^(-3) = 0.00248 light-year.

There are 9.46 x 10^15 kilometers in one light year, so multiply that by 4.3 to get 4.0678 x 10^16 km.

Speed equals distance divided by time. The distance in this case is one light-year, which is (9.46)(10^12) kilometers or nearly six trillion miles. Divide that distance by the given time to find the speed.

"Nine point forty-six times ten to the fifteenth (power)."

Proxima Centauri is the nearest star. It is about 9.46 quadrillion meters from here. That's 946,000,000,000,000,000 meters.

There are no years in a "light year." A light year is a measure of distance.

The Moon's gravity is roughly one-sixth that of the Earth. So someone weighing 70 kg on Earth would weigh about 11.67 kg on the Moon (70/6).

It would travel 17,609,140,800,000 Miles per second to go 1 light year in 3 months.

The distance of the Andromeda galaxy from Earth is 1.5 x 10^19 (15 quintillion) miles.

9.46 x 10^15 metres.