Question

astronomers use a light year to measure distance. light year is distance light travels in a year. speed of light is 300,000 km/sec. How long is 1 light year in kilometers?

Answer 1

all right, looks like you need to figure out how many seconds are in a year

Answer 2

so, 60 seconds in 1 minute, 60 minutes in 1 hour, 24 hours in 1 day, ~365 days in 1 year...

Answer 3

60*60*24*365

Answer 4

is how many seconds there, now if light travels 300,000km in 1 second, then light will travel x km in 60*60*24*365 seconds

Answer 5

thanks for your help!

Answer 6

on that on do i need to multiply the seconds part by 300,000?

Answer 7

so you have 300,000km/sec * x sec to obtain only km

Answer 8

so yes

Answer 9

then that will give me my km?

Answer 10

I have another question too. using the last question, the nearest star to the earth is 4.34 light years from earth. how far is that in km?

Answer 11

ok
so you know how many km are in 1 light year

Answer 12

you just found that with 300,000 * (60*60*24*365)

Answer 13

so you a found value with km/light year

Answer 14

so you can multiply a value like (x light years) * ( y km/light year ) and obtain only km, the units, light years, cancel out

Answer 15

okay i think i finally am starting to get it

Answer 16

nice