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Light year facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts
(Redirected from Light-year)

A light year (symbol: ly) is the distance that light travels in empty space in one year. Since the speed of light is about 300,000 km per second (about 186,000 miles per second), then a light year is about 10 trillion kilometers (about 6 trillion miles). A light year is not a length of time.




Similar distance measurements

  • Light minute - The distance that light travels in one minute (about 18,000,000 km per minute, or 11,160,000 miles per minute).
For example, our Sun is about 8 light minutes from Earth
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Light year Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.