Space / light-year
Facts about Light Year
- 05
Officially defined by the International Astronomical Union, one light year equals exactly 9.4607304725808 × 10^15 meters based on the defined speed of light.
- 04
In metric terms, one light year equals roughly 9.461 × 10^15 meters, making it a unit defined by the speed of light in a vacuum.
- 03
Proxima Centauri, the nearest star to our Sun, is approximately 4.24 light years away from Earth.
- 02
The light year is used primarily as a unit of astronomical distance, not time, despite the word 'year' in its name.
- 01
A light year is the distance light travels in one year, approximately 9.46 trillion kilometers.