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

‘The distance of a star from the earth is 8.33 light minutes’ implies it takes 8.33 minutes for light to reach the earth from the star.

As we know,

Distance = speed × time

Given:

Speed = 3 × 10⁸ms⁻¹

Time = 8.33 min

= 8.33 × 60 s

= 499.8 s

Substituting the values in the formula above, we get

Distance = 3 × 10⁸ × 499.8 s

= 1.4994 × 10⁸

= 1.4 × 10¹¹

Therefore, the distance from the star to the earth is 1.4 × 10¹¹ m.