For the same reason you wouldn't use a ruler to measure a paramecium. A lightyear is the distance that light travels in a year, about 6,000,000,000,000 miles. The reason it isn't used inside of our solar system is, simply, because the solar system isn't that big.
inside of our solar system, things are relatively close together so light takes minutes and not years to get around. however outside of our solar system, the distances are soo huge that its easier to use light years (distance light travels in a year in a vacuum) any distance can be measured in "light years" and vice versa they are both just describing terms.
No. A light year measures such large distances that it would be highly impractical to measure anything on Earth. The light year is used to measure distance in space beyond the solar system.
Use "Astronomical UNit" or AU when discussing distances within the solar system. Use "light year" when talking about the distances between stars.
No, the nearest star to the Earth, other than the Sun, is Proxima Centauri and it is 4.2 light years away.
The Sun is a star, Rigel is also a star. We name the stars just like we name the planets. Our solar system consists of The Sun and all the planets that go around it including moons, asteroids and comets. To say that The Sun is the biggest star in our solar system simply doesn't make sense because it is the only star in it. Now, our solar system is inside a galaxy where there are approximately 200 BILLION stars, some are bigger some are smaller than The Sun. The closest star to us after The Sun, is so far away that it is impractical to measure distances in miles, so we have to measure distances in light-years (one light-year is the distance light would travel in one year, light travels at 18600 miles per second, therefore, one light-year equals 5,865,696,000,000 miles). The closest visible star to our solar system is about 4.3 light-years away and that is far enough to make it seem like a little dot of light to the naked eye despite it being about the same size as The Sun.
non-examples of solar system iz galaxies,stars,and light-year
non-examples of solar system iz galaxies,stars,and light-year
non-examples of solar system iz galaxies,stars,and light-year
Mercury is part of our Solar System; our Solar System is part of our galaxy. Look at it this way. Our galaxy - the Milky Way - has a diameter of about 100,000 light-years. We are not precisely in the center of the Milky Way, but everything within the Solar System is within a radius of about 1 light-year - far less in the case of planets in the Solar System (the 1 light-year refers to the Oort Cloud).
Anything out of our solar system.
The light year, the unit of distance equal to the distance that light travels in a vacuum in one earth year, is used for distances between galaxies and between solar systems. It is too large for measurements within our solar system, since light from the sun takes only 8 minutes and about 20 seconds to reach Earth and only a few hours to reach the edge of our solar system.
inside of our solar system, things are relatively close together so light takes minutes and not years to get around. however outside of our solar system, the distances are soo huge that its easier to use light years (distance light travels in a year in a vacuum) any distance can be measured in "light years" and vice versa they are both just describing terms.
Some say the sun's atmosphere, all of which is part of the solar system, stretches past the Kuiper Belt for millions of miles. Some consider the Oort Cloud the edge of the solar system, which is a giant bubble-like nebula that's edge is a light year away from the sun, making the solar system's diameter two light years.
No. A light year measures such large distances that it would be highly impractical to measure anything on Earth. The light year is used to measure distance in space beyond the solar system.
No. Far better to use AU (Astronomical Units).
1950's solar system invented
Use "Astronomical UNit" or AU when discussing distances within the solar system. Use "light year" when talking about the distances between stars.