how far can light travel in a year

The distance light can travel in a year is known as a light-year. Light travels at a speed of approximately 299,792 kilometers per second (km/s) or 186,282 miles per second.

To calculate the distance light can travel in a year, we need to multiply the speed of light by the number of seconds in a year.

There are 60 seconds in a minute, 60 minutes in an hour, 24 hours in a day, and 365.25 days in a year (accounting for leap years).

So, let’s do the calculation:

Speed of light (km/s) = 299,792 km/s
Seconds in a year = 60 x 60 x 24 x 365.25 = 31,536,000 seconds

Distance light can travel in a year (km) = Speed of light (km/s) x Seconds in a year
= 299,792 km/s x 31,536,000 s
= approximately 9,461,000,000 km

In miles, this would be:

Distance light can travel in a year (miles) = approximately 5,880,000,000 miles

So, a light-year is approximately 9.461 billion kilometers or 5.88 billion miles. This is the distance light can travel in one year, and it’s a unit of measurement used to express the vast distances between stars and other celestial objects in our universe.