Calculate the time it takes light from the sun to reach Mercury?

Answer 1

Mercury's average distance from the sun is about 58 million kilometers, or 58 billion meters. Light travels at a speed of about 300 million meters per second. Divide the distance by the speed of light to get the time needed, and you end up with about 193.3 seconds, or about 3.2 minutes.

You can check this answer to make sure that it makes sense by remembering that light from the sun takes roughly 8 minutes to reach Earth. Earth and Mercury are both terrestrial planets, Mercury is closer, and 3 minutes and 8 minutes aren't wildly different times, so the answer looks reasonable.

Answer 2

It takes about 3 minutes for light from the sun to reach Mercury, which is the closest planet to the sun in our solar system. This is due to the distance between Mercury and the sun, which is approximately 36 million miles (58 million kilometers) on average.

Answer 3

It takes 3.2 minutes or 193.0 seconds or .387 AU (speed) to get from the sun to mercury in light travel. This is how the scientific speed is measured.