What does a light year measure?

Correct answer: Distance

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What people think about it: 36 Comments
WaldoLydeker
WaldoLydeker
Astronomers get giddy when they discover more planets orbiting distant stars, as if some day humans will reach them or vice versa. Considering the closest star to us is 4 light years away, if a vehicle could be built to get there, humans would have to live in it for hundreds of earth years. Face it folks, we only live at best 100 years, so we ain't going anywhere. Let's take better care of the only home we'll ever have.
derpmeowderp
derpmeowderp
WaldoLydeker, who said we can't procreate and live on a spacecraft for thousands of years? And it's not like we have to choose between space exploration or taking care of the planet. We can do both, and we can also learn a lot about our planet by looking at other planets.
Player kawasaki_beet
Player kawasaki_beet
WaldoLydeker, If we look at the history of human migration out of Africa, a story of exploration and leaving home forever, it seems inevitable that we will reach the stars. Engines capable of very high speeds (1/10 c) are already on the drawing board. Barring the collapse of civilization, it will happen, likely within 200 years.
Player BREDA 🔥🐥
Player BREDA 🔥🐥
Fascinating.. Black Holes are my favourite universe mysteries aswell as Pulsars
Player LV Lizard 🦎
Player LV Lizard 🦎
tricky but a GREAT question!
Mark
Mark
Well done to those who answered time 🤣🤣🤣 when km is shown on the picture!!! 🤣🤣🤣
Lionessa
Lionessa
Player #52222832, Wormholes collapse...they don't function like a tunnel through a rock mountain.
Lionessa
Lionessa
The Stew, Due to lots of dense physics, a vehicle traveling at light speed would never arrive at its destination. The closer a vehicle gets to light speed, the slower time passes. So, I'm sorry, but there won't be a Starship Light Speed, and there won't be teleportation, probably ever.
Lionessa
Lionessa
The Stew, Teleportation would require that a human body and brain be fully disintegrated into individual particles and transported across distance. Then, all those particles must be reintegrated into the thinking, functioning, remembering human being we started with. Sure, we'll be rolling that out any day now. ;)
Player #120374466
Player #120374466
WaldoLydeker, We can't even use the wonderful resources available already to live happily here on earth. Why think of going anywhere else to mess things up?
Player #125843019
Player #125843019
Rohith, but utterly useless,
Player #125843019
Player #125843019
186,000 miles per second
Lina
Lina
Ray, I totally understand your point. But we cannot "stop reaching for the stars" (literally and figuratively) just to feed and house people. We can and SHOULD do both. You never know what discoveries from space, the oceans, and other unexplored (or under-explored) realms will lead to our salvation. Including famine. IMO billions are better spent on scientific, and humanitarian missions, than wars. Wars that exponentially compounds famine, and homelessness.
Lionessa
Lionessa
97% of the universe is inaccessible to us due to expansion, no matter how fast we learn to go.
Nostromo
Nostromo
But, but...you can't do the Kessel run in light years...? 8-/
LiamLeicester
LiamLeicester
derpmeowderp, we can't even go to the moon.. funds run into war technologies and how to harm others.. we are destroying our own planet, better leave the rest alone anyway!
wesley
wesley
since I understand theorized that time was relative, that means a light year is relatively far away.😋
Neila
Neila
WaldoLydeker, They know about compressing space in front of spaceship and expanding space in back in order to engage ‘warp’ drive. Forgot the name…wait it may be Alcubierre Drive.Will make a huge difference! Good luck to us!
Dieu linh
Dieu linh
Tot wua
The Stew
The Stew
I believe either a vehicle that travels at the speed of light or teleportation will be possible some day. Then that generation will have the possibility of visiting other galaxies and coming back home without batting an eye.
Player #45619216
Player #45619216
Totally not because the picture helped me ;)
Ray
Ray
Should we keep spending billions on Space missions when we have poor and starving Humans here on Earth?
Player #52222832
Player #52222832
WaldoLydeker, not necessarily, we could put ourselves into stasis or even develop the ability to open Einstein Rosen bridges (wormholes)
Rohith
Rohith
extraordinary Question and good information I loved it...
Pia gale
Pia gale
Mick Jiggins, 🤣
khanie
khanie
Surely a light year is also a measure of time AND space as the two are intertwined as space-time?
Player #43387163
Player #43387163
WaldoLydeker, I totally agree with your comment... An "earth like planet" that was ""discovered"" a few months back was 1,200 light years away, someone said it would take us years to get there, 😄, years? you would go through a million generations at our best speed, we are well and truly stuck on this planet but we almost have it destroyed, another 100 years and it will be just about habitable..
joejoe
joejoe
derpmeowderp, I think we might already have done irreversible harm to the ozone with space flight & maybe even regular planes & gas powered engines. Just a thought.
Player #32567393
Player #32567393
Cozzy 25, I worked out the number of miles was in 1 light year when I was st school. 6,585,696,000,000 miles in a light year. I used a series of multiplications in order to achieve this. 😎
Player #18814620
Player #18814620
WaldoLydeker, you obviously never heard of warp speed;)
Mr snazzy
Mr snazzy
Light travels at 186,000 miles a second, a light year is the distance it travels in a year
Player Diver Dan
Player Diver Dan
Uninitialized, Correction. Somebody WROTE that 'God' promised that.
Ash
Ash
Innovations happen. If just 50 years ago, I told you that I could see and talk to a person on other side of the world in real time just using a slim piece of metal and plastic brick, you’d say I’m mad or I know witchcraft or that I’m god. You never know what we may invent in few decades. Wormholes maybe? Better fuels? Possibilities are endless.
Player #25874027
Player #25874027
Qatwalk, No. Only if the game calculates you need help
Player #4525526
Player #4525526
WaldoLydeker, disagree completely. technology will advance and we will travel.
Rehma The Pro
Rehma The Pro
It is obvious because in the picture km is shown, which means that the answer is distance