Question

A nebula in space is 1,500,000 light-years from Earth. How many miles away is the nebula?

A) 8.87 × 10^18 miles (eight trillion eight hundred seventy billion miles)
B) 15 × 10^4 miles (fifteen thousand miles)
C) 1.5 × 10^6 miles (one million five hundred thousand miles)
D) 1.5 × 10^8 miles (fifteen million miles)

Answer 1

A nebula 1,500,000 light-years from Earth is 8.87 × 10¹⁸ miles away, which is option A. This is calculated by multiplying the number of light-years by the distance light travels in one year in miles.

Step-by-step explanation:

To determine the distance of a nebula from Earth in miles, we can use the information that a light-year is the distance light travels in one year. Given that light travels at approximately 186,000 miles per second, by calculating the distance for a single year, we find that one light-year is equal to 5.86 × 1012 miles (which is roughly 6 trillion miles). Therefore, to find out how many miles away is a nebula that is 1,500,000 light-years from Earth, we would multiply 1,500,000 by the distance of one light-year in miles:

1,500,000 × 5.86 × 1012 miles = 8.79 × 1018 miles

The correct option is A) 8.87 × 1018 miles (eight trillion eight hundred seventy billion miles), assuming there is a rounding in the final value to match the answer choice.