How long does it take for light from the stars of the big dipper to reach earth?

Answer 1

The stars we see at night are nearby stars in the Milky Way. The north star, Polaris, is 430 lightyears away, so its light takes 430 years to reach us. As contrast, the Milky Way is 100,000 lightyears across, and the nearest major galaxy is 2,200,000 lightyears away.

Answer 2

The North Star, Polaris, is about 430 light-years away.

The fastest spacecraft we could possibly build, with our current understanding of physics, MIGHT be able to attain a speed of 0.1c, where "c" is the speed of light. So a trip would take 4,300 years. Bear in mind that no such ship currently exists in anything other than rough speculation, and that 4300 years is approximately the age of human civilization, so it probably cannot be done at all.

Answer 3

Go outside on a clear moonless night. You will see clearly that you cannot see a thing.

So the amount of starlight that hits the Earth is "very little".

But why is this so? Granted, the stars are exceedingly far away, but there are billions upon billions of stars in the sky. A single grain of sand on the beach is practically weightless, yet a bucket of sand is quite heavy. Why doesn't the infinitesimal amount of light from each of trillions of stars add up to a lot of light?

This is the crux of Olbers' Paradox.

The amount of light that Earth reveives from a star is called the star's "Apparent Magnitude"

Answer 4

The nearest star to us besides the sun is either Alpha or Proxima Centauri,

depending on where they are in their orbits. Their distance from us is about

4.2 light years. That means it takes their light 4.2 years to reach us.

Answer 5

I don't think there is a special name for that, since the amount of energy received by Earth this way is quite insignificant.

Other ideas:

For a particular star, it is called the "apparent brightness".

It is also sometimes called the "intensity" or "flux" of the starlight.

(Note that it's not the same thing as "apparent magnitude".)

The apparent brightness can easily be measured with modern telescopes and electronic devices. It has units of energy per second per square meter.

A star's "luminosity" is the amount of energy it gives out per second.

A star's "apparent brightness" is:

the star's luminosity divided by 4 pi x square of its distance.

Answer 6

Quite simply, take the distance in light years and that is your answer. Alpha Centauri

is 4.3 light years away, so that is how long its light will take to reach us, 4.3 years.

The closest star to us, our sun is 8.3 light minutes away. This is about 93 million

miles. But the light will only take... you guessed it, 8.3 minutes to reach Earth.

The closest other star to Earth is Proxima Centauri, at 4.2 light years away - which

means that it takes light 4.2 years to get here.

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Only about 81/3 minutes from the nearest star.

Answer 7

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Answer 8

The exact distance to Polaris is not known, but is estimated at 325 to 425 light years, so light from it takes 235 to 425 years to reach us.

Answer 9

From anywhere in the Northern Hemisphere, Polaris (the North Star, the Pole Star) can be seen at any time on any clear night, always in very nearly the same place in the sky.

Answer 10

That depends on the distance to its destination. From the

North Star to Earth, that trip takes about 430 years.