the speed of light travels over 9 billion miles a day. So if a star is 44 million light years away from earth it would take less than one day for the light of that star to reach us. Right? Or would it take 44 million years with light traveling at 186000 miles a second to reach us? Please explain.
An astronomy question
- Thread starter georgevan
- Start date
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Andy M.
Certified Pretend Chef
A light year is a measure of distance, not time. Specifically, it's the distance light travels in one year. Your second statement is correct. If a star is 44 million LY away, it will take 44 million years for light to travel from here to there.
What Andy wrote. A light year is a unit of distance.
Andy M.
Certified Pretend Chef
According to Google, light travels about 5,879,000,000,000 miles in a year. Multiply that by 44 and you have your answer. 258,676,000,000,000 miles. (258 trillion, 676 billion . . .) So pack a lunch.
Around the World Universe in 80 _________ (number to be supplied by Andy,
) days years.
and don't forget the Universe is continually expanding...
) and don't forget the Universe is continually expanding...
Andy M.
Certified Pretend Chef
. . . sort of like my waistline. I'm not going to tell you how big either one is. Sorry.Around theWorldUniverse in80_________ (number to be supplied by Andy,daysyears.
and don't forget the Universe is continually expanding...
Around theWorldUniverse in80_________ (number to be supplied by Andy,daysyears.
and don't forget the Universe is continually expanding...
No human mind can even begin to imagine that distance.
GotGarlic
Chef Extraordinaire
I 
Neil deGrasse Tyson
Neil deGrasse Tyson
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GotGarlic
Chef Extraordinaire
Love the way that man explains science. I'm still impressed that dippy Joni Mitchel wrote that song, Woodstock, and the part about us being stardust and billion year old carbon wasn't just some hippy metaphor. It's actually fact.
I don't think I would call Joni Mitchel "dippy". That woman has suffered multiple diseases her entire life. Yet, to this day, (she's just turned 80, Nov 4) she is still going on. Her success and influence on the world of music is impressive.
No, I'm not a particular fan of hers - couldn't name a single album without looking it up, but I would not describe someone dippy just because they were folk singers in the 60's.
JMHO
No, I'm not a particular fan of hers - couldn't name a single album without looking it up, but I would not describe someone dippy just because they were folk singers in the 60's.
JMHO
I just find some of her ideas and things she has said to be "dippy". I don't think of people who were folk singers in the 1960s to be dippy in general.
Silversage
Head Chef
I was a big fan of Joni Mitchell in the 60s, and still am! I guess that makes me dippy!
Her Clouds album is a classic.
Her Clouds album is a classic.
Okay, I take it back. I don't so much think of Joni Mitchel as dippy, more as dreamy.
Dreaming of how a world should be was the message being flogged, at least that's how I see it.
When you become a celebrity - with cameras and microphone shoved in your face - you don't always have time to think about how a statement, thought, answer will come across to the public. Sometimes you are just tired and say the first thought - right or wrong - that comes bubbling up. Something that, given a chance to think about, you wouldn't say or at least say but with more guiding parameters.
They certainly didn't have press staff writing speeches for them like politicians - whom also constantly stick their feet in mouths.
When you become a celebrity - with cameras and microphone shoved in your face - you don't always have time to think about how a statement, thought, answer will come across to the public. Sometimes you are just tired and say the first thought - right or wrong - that comes bubbling up. Something that, given a chance to think about, you wouldn't say or at least say but with more guiding parameters.
They certainly didn't have press staff writing speeches for them like politicians - whom also constantly stick their feet in mouths.
Can I ask what does Joni Mitchell has to do with the speed of light?
LOL - taxy, this one's yours - explain away!
Joni Mitchell wrote the song "Woodstock". The chorus in that song is,
When the song came out, we all thought that was just metaphor. It turns out that the part about us being stardust and billion year old carbon is literally true. In the second of the two Neil deGrasse Tyson videos posted earlier in this thread, he says, "... that we are not just figuratively, we are literally stardust ...". I'm pretty sure he was referencing that Joni Mitchell song.
The video is 39 seconds long.
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