Question

The distance of a star from the Earth is 8.33 light minutes'. What do you mean by this statement? Express the distance in metre.

Answer 1

Light minutes are not the same as the minutes that we speak about in normal conceptual terms. Light minutes refer to the minute that light takes to travel in a vacuum -18 million kilometres.

This is basically referred to calculate astronomical distances. To express 8.33 light minutes in distance is calculated by a simple formula

z = c x t

 Distance to the object = speed of light (300,000 km/ sec) x time light takes from the object to reach the earth

Thus, Z= 300,000 X 8.33 X60(to convert min to sec)

= 149400000 km i.e. = 149.4 million km

Answer 2

Hey there!

The statement 'The distance of a star from the earth is 8.33 light minutes' means that the light from the star takes 8.33 minutes to reach earth.

Given,

Speed of light = 3 * 10^8 m/s

Distance covered in 1 sec = 3 * 10^8

Time taken = 8.33 min = 8.33 * 60 s

Distance = speed * time = 3 * 10^8 * 8.33 * 60 = 1.5 * 10^11 m

Hope It Helps You!