I just heard that there is a new planet discovered and it is 2,000 light years away. How many earth years is 2,000 light years? Please Help. Thanks:)
light years is more of a measure of distance. in other words. it takes 2,000 years for light from that planet to reach us. 1 light year = 5865696000000 miles
A light year is a measure of distance, not time. So your question makes as much sense as asking How many hours is 2,000 miles? A light year is the _distance_ light travels in an Earth year.
Keep in mind that 2,000 light-years is distance. That means it takes a beam of light 2,000 years at 189,000 miles per second to get there. Also interesting to note the the planet is as it appeared 2,000 years ago, not now. It could have exploded for all we know. The closest star to us is about four light-years away. This means that it is 23,462,784,000,000 miles away.
Light years are a measurement of distance, not time. A single light year is the distance light travels in an Earth Year. A ray of light travels at about 186,000 miles per SECOND. So it's a long way. 2,000 light years is about twelve thousand TRILLION miles. So it's a very, very, very long way. EDIT: Just to give you an idea of the speed of light. A ray of light travels in a straight line under most circumstances, but if it could curve easily, it could circle the Earth about 7 times in 1 second.
