(Redirected from Light second)A 'light-second' is a
unit of length. It is defined as the
distance light travels in an absolute
vacuum in one
second or
299,792,458 meters. Note that this value is considered exact, since the meter is actually (as of 1983) defined in terms of the light second. It is just over 186,282
miles and almost 10
9 feet.
A
light-minute is 60 light-seconds and a
light-hour is 60 light-minutes, or 3600 light-seconds. A
light-year is 31,557,600 light-seconds.
Some distances in light seconds:
★ The mean diameter of the
Earth is about 0.0425 light-seconds.
★ The mean distance, over land, between opposite sides of the planet
Earth is about 0.0668 light-seconds (which also means that communications between opposite sides of the planet, taking a circumferential path, can never travel faster than about 67 milliseconds).
★ The average distance from the Earth to the
Moon is about 1.282 light-seconds.
★ The diameter of the
Sun is about 4.643 light-seconds.
★ The average distance from the Earth to the Sun (i.e. 1
astronomical unit) is 499.0 light-seconds, or 8.317 light-minutes.
It is also possible to add diminutive prefixes, such as the light-
nanosecond, equal to almost exactly 30 cm (11.8 in or nearly a foot).
See also
★
Light-hour
★
Light-minute
★
Light-year
★
Speed of light
★
1 E8 m