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Because measuring in miles or kilometres would yield HUGE numbers !
A light year is defined as the distance light takes to travel in a calendar year. Therefore, since light travels at 186282 miles a second - this distance is 5,874,589,152,000 miles !
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∙ 13y ago
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Do you use meters to measure the distance between stars?
Meters can be used; however, in practice, such distance are usually measured in parsecs, or (in popular astronomical literature) in light-years.
What unit do you use to measure distance in your galaxy?
light years are used as a type of measurement to calculate the distance between planets, astronomical units are used to measure how far away a planet is from earth.
What measurements are used to measure space?
(LY) Light Years and (AU) Astronomical Unit.
How many years is 587 light years?
Light years is a measure for distance, the distance light travels in one year. For the light to travel 587 light years, it takes 587 years.
Convert 70000 light years to earth calendar year?
Light years is a measure of distance, not of time; it is the distance that light travels in one year.
Do you use meters to measure the distance between stars?
Meters can be used; however, in practice, such distance are usually measured in parsecs, or (in popular astronomical literature) in light-years.
How do you measure long distances in space?
In Light-years(how far light travels in 1 Earth year), AU(Astronomical Unit=distance between the Earth and the Sun), Parsecs( the distance from the Sun to an astronomical object which has a parallax angle of one arcsecond), or simply miles.
Why do astronomores measure in distance in space in light years rather then kilometres?
the distances in space are too large (astronomical) to use such small units as kms
How do you measure distanceis space?
light year (distance that light travels in a vacuum in one Earth year, about 5.9 trillion miles); astronomical unit (distance from Sun to Earth, about 92,955,807.3 mi); parsec (3.26 light years)
What unit do you use to measure distance in your galaxy?
light years are used as a type of measurement to calculate the distance between planets, astronomical units are used to measure how far away a planet is from earth.
What measurements are used to measure space?
(LY) Light Years and (AU) Astronomical Unit.
What is used to find a planet's distance from the sun?
When exploring space, astronomers use astronomical units, (AU) to measure the distance from one object to another. Since every distance from one object in our solar system to another object in our solar system, the distance of a planet from the sun would be measured in astronomical units
How are light years and astronomical units similar?
Light years and astronomical units are both units of distance.
What are light years and astronomical most useful?
Units such as light years and astronomical units are useful because they can be used to measure very large distances without yielding extremely large numbers.
What distance measurements based on the speed of light?
Light years are based on the speed of light. This particular measurement, which is used to measure astronomical distances to celestial objects, is the distance that light can travel in one year.One light year is equal to:0.31 parsecs63241 AU9.461×1012 km9.461×1015 meters5.879x1012 miles
If you are four years away from a place would you be 4 light years away?
No, 'years' is a measure of time and 'light years' is a measure of distance.
What unit of measure is used to measure the distance to the stars?
light years
