How long for suns light to reach earth

The star that is nearest to the Sun happens to be part of a system of three stars. Unlike the Sun, which is a loner, many stars are found in groups of two, three, four or more. The brightest star in our neighbor system is called Alpha Centauri pronounced Al' fa Sen' to ree , and it is a virtual twin of the Sun.

Light from Alpha Centauri takes more than 4 years to reach the Sun. Astronomers use a special term for this way of measuring distance—they say the star is 4 light years away. The brightest star in our skies is the "dog star", Sirius pronounced Sea' ree us. It's the primary star in the constellation of the big dog, Canis Major. Sirius is roughly 9 light years away. Think of what you were doing 9 years ago.

That's when the light we see from Sirius tonight first began its journey to us. Not far from Sirius in the sky is the bright star Betelgeuse pronounced Beetle' juice. It is so far that its light takes years to reach us. Light that we see tonight from Betelgeuse left it in the late 's. In the same part constellation , Orion, as Betelgeuse but even farther away is the Orion Nebula , a place where we see new stars forming.

Its distance is light years, meaning that the light we see from it left more than a thousand years before the invention of the telescope. It is ancient! But not to the photons themselves. You see, according to Einstein, the closer to the speed of light you travel , the more the time dilates i.

Ultimately, for a photon that travels…well… at the light speed, the fastest speed there is, there is no time and no distance. In other words, photons have no age and they do not experience time. To them, entering your eye happens instantaneously after their birth — no thousands of years of bouncing, no huge distance from the Sun traveled!

Did you enjoy this post? Here are some other cool posts about the Sun. Why white dwarfs crystallize and how the Sun will turn into a giant diamond. Parker Probe: the mission to solve the mystery of the Sun. If you have any questions o comments, do not hesitate to get in touch. Your email address will not be published. However, this time is variable because the earth is constantly orbiting the sun on a course which is elliptical, ie uneven.

When closest to the star, sunlight only takes seconds 8 minutes 10 seconds to reach Earth. And then at the most distant point, it takes seconds 8 minutes 27 seconds for sunlight to make the journey. But interestingly, those travelling photons light radiations are much, much older than eight minutes.

They were made thousands of years ago inside the sun itself. Divide these and you get seconds, or 8 minutes and 20 seconds. This is an average number. Remember, the Earth follows an elliptical orbit around the Sun, ranging from million to million km. At its closest point, sunlight only takes seconds to reach Earth. And then at the most distant point, it takes seconds for sunlight to make the journey. But the story of light gets even more interesting, when you think about the journey light needs to make inside the Sun.