Question

Define light year, and explain how and why light years are used to measure distance in the universe

Answer 1

A light-year is the distance that light travels in empty space in one year. Since the speed of light is about 300,000 km per second (about 186,000 miles per second), then a light year is about 10 trillion kilometers (about 6 trillion miles).

The light year is used in astronomy because the universe is huge. Space objects such as stars and galaxies may be hundreds, thousands or millions of light years away.