One light–year what is it equal to?


It is equal to ~ 10 trillion kilometers – this distance is simply unthinkable, it cannot be superimposed on something earthly to at least project in your head how far it is.

You and I on Earth are used to correlating everything with the physical distances between two objects. Only in space, in its infinite space, the distances are so great that the units of measurement used on earth life there are no longer suitable and have to be shifted to taking into account time.

The most common unit is suitable for this — the light year. It is equal to the distance that light (the fastest known quantity in the universe) travels in one year. This is about 10 trillion km.

Here is an example – the second closest star to Earth, Alpha Centauri, is 4.4 light–years away from us. That is, ~44 trillion km away from us.


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