108,576 views
30 votes
30 votes
How long does it take light to reach Earth from an object on light-year away?

User Hazel Sophie
by
2.8k points

1 Answer

20 votes
20 votes

Answer:

The short answer is that it takes sunlight an average of 8 minutes and 20 seconds to travel from the Sun to the Earth.

Step-by-step explanation:

how long does it take sunlight to reach Earth? This sounds like a strange question, but think about it. Sunlight travels at the speed of light. Photons emitted from the surface of the Sun need to travel across the vacuum of space to reach our eyes. If the Sun suddenly disappeared from the Universe (not that this could actually happen, don't panic), it would take a little more than 8 minutes before you realized it was time to put on a sweater.

User Kakayou
by
2.9k points