HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE SUNLIGHT TO REACH THE EARTH?
8 minutes and 20 seconds
Here’s the math. We orbit the Sun at a distance of about 150 million km. Light moves at 300,000 kilometers/second. Divide these and you get 500 seconds, or 8 minutes and 20 seconds.
This is an average number. Remember, the Earth follows an elliptical orbit around the Sun, ranging from 147 million to 152 million km. At its closest point, sunlight only takes 490 seconds to reach Earth. And then at the most distant point, it takes 507 seconds for sunlight to make the journey.
How fast does light travel from the Sun to each of the planets?
Light travels at a speed of 299,792 kilometers per second; 186,287 miles per second. It takes 499.0 seconds for light to travel from the Sun to the Earth, a distance called 1 Astronomical Unit. below I list the light travel times from the Sun to each planet:
Planet Distance in AU Travel time .................................................................... Mercury 0.387 193.0 seconds or 3.2 minutes Venus 0.723 360.0 seconds or 6.0 minutes Earth 1.000 499.0 seconds or 8.3 minutes Mars 1.523 759.9 seconds or 12.6 minutes Jupiter 5.203 2595.0 seconds or 43.2 minutes Saturn 9.538 4759.0 seconds or 79.3 minutes Uranus 19.819 9575.0 seconds or 159.6 minutes Neptune 30.058 14998.0 seconds or 4.1 hours Pluto 39.44 19680.0 seconds or 5.5 hours ...................................................................
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