All we can say for sure about this is 'a great deal'.
See, light, as monumentally fast as it is compared to us and other objects, it's actually very slow. It takes time to get from place to place, and that really adds up in the scheme of the universe. For instance, it takes a particle of light travelling at top speeds of 30,000 km per second more than a hundred thousand years to cross our own Milky Way galaxy. If we want to see the closest galaxies, you have to see them through light that was generated hundreds of millions of years ago. From there, it only gets more and more extravagant.
Because of this speed, we can't trust what we see as astronomers. Sure, we can calculate that the oldest light in the universe is 14 billion years old, but that means that we can only see objects closer than 14 billion light years. It's far more likely that the universe goes much farther than that, possibly a hundred trillion light-years. Others say that, since a universe is by definition everything that ever is or was, our universe is truly infinite in scale- so massive that not even the greatest mathematical minds can comprehend it.
As is the case for most scientific inquires, we don't know for sure what the answer is to this one, but we do have a few good guesses. Thankfully, science isn't so much about the knowing or dwelling in ignorance so much as it is about the learning. We're young and, frankly, are having a hard enough time getting off our own planet. In time, though, it's doubtless that an answer, even one to a question as big as this, could be found.
answer2:
The number of light years in a universe depends on how large the universe is.
In the universe we live in, my estimate the universe to have 15.85 Billion Light Years. The light years depend on the mass in the universe..
I think our universe is finite in size, energy and mass.
power equal 3645 E49 watts.given the speed of light and the Gravitational Constant.
Probably not many, maybe thousands, Universe is a 20 year old technology like COBOL
Light years is a measurement of length (not time!), and was taken to use for the purpose of illustrating the wast distances in the galaxy and the universe. One light year is the distance in which light will travel during one year at the speed of Light ~3*10^8 m/s.
Most of the light in the universe comes from the stars. Stars create their own light using nuclear fusion.
A light-year is about 9,461,000,000,000 km.
Only one. Because Light year is a messure of distance not of time. Light year is the distance travelled by light in one year.
A light year is not a physical object; rather, it is the distance light travels in a year.
A light year is the distance that light can travel in a year.
The light year was invented, because, at 182,000 miles/second (9,467,077,790 miles a year), it is the fastest thing in the universe. As the universe is very huge, this is more convenient than saying how many singular miles things are from each other. Ex: 2 light years instead of 18,934,155,580 miles.
The universe is not infinite. It is 156 billion light-years wide. A light-year is equivalent to about 9,500 billion km
It is a simpler way of measuring very long distances, which is what we have in the Universe.
Yes, current theory and observations suggest that the age of the universe is between 13.6 and 13.8 billion years (earth years).However please note that a light year is the distance a beam of light will travel in one earth year.
When the big bang theory started the universe, light was created.
Probably not many, maybe thousands, Universe is a 20 year old technology like COBOL
That is approximately equivalent to 1 light-year. That is to say, if travelling at the speed of light - the highest possible speed in the Universe - it will take a year to get there.
A light year is a measurement of distance, not of time. It is the distance light travels in one year. Light is used to measure distance since it is the fastest thing in the Universe. A light-year equals about 9.46053 x 1012 km (or 5.878 x 1012 miles).
First, you would measure the diameter of the Universe in miles, or its volume in cubic miles; but what would you want to measure in square miles?Second, the size of the Universe is not currently known. The observable Universe has a radius of about 46 billion light-years. Convert that to kilometers or miles if you like. One light-year is about 10 million million kilometers. But the entire Universe is probably much, much bigger.First, you would measure the diameter of the Universe in miles, or its volume in cubic miles; but what would you want to measure in square miles?Second, the size of the Universe is not currently known. The observable Universe has a radius of about 46 billion light-years. Convert that to kilometers or miles if you like. One light-year is about 10 million million kilometers. But the entire Universe is probably much, much bigger.First, you would measure the diameter of the Universe in miles, or its volume in cubic miles; but what would you want to measure in square miles?Second, the size of the Universe is not currently known. The observable Universe has a radius of about 46 billion light-years. Convert that to kilometers or miles if you like. One light-year is about 10 million million kilometers. But the entire Universe is probably much, much bigger.First, you would measure the diameter of the Universe in miles, or its volume in cubic miles; but what would you want to measure in square miles?Second, the size of the Universe is not currently known. The observable Universe has a radius of about 46 billion light-years. Convert that to kilometers or miles if you like. One light-year is about 10 million million kilometers. But the entire Universe is probably much, much bigger.
The OBSERVABLE Universe has a diameter of about 93 billion light-years. "Observable" means that the light of anything beyond that hasn't had time to reach us, since the time of the Big Bang.