Speed of light

The speed of light in a vacuum is approximately 299,792 kilometers per second (km/s) or about 186,282 miles per second (mi/s). This fundamental constant, often denoted as c, is crucial in physics and underpins Einstein's theory of relativity. It also serves as the universal speed limit, meaning nothing with mass can travel faster than light in a vacuum. In practical terms: Light travels around the Earth’s equator 7.5 times in one second. It takes just 8 minutes and 20 seconds for sunlight to reach Earth from the Sun (about 149.6 million kilometers away). In other mediums like water or glass, light slows down due to interactions with the medium's molecules.

The gas giants make light look slow 😅

Reminds me of this:

Artist illustration of an exoplanet called VHS 1256 b. A world orbiting twin suns, Webb detected silicate dust grains of varying sizes in its atmosphere. The larger grains may be like very hot, small sand particles. Located 40 light years away from earth, completes an orbit around its two stars every 10,000 earth years. The planet being 4 times farther from its stars than Pluto is from our Sun, the upper part of its atmosphere gets as hot as 830°C. Credits: Illustration: NASA, ESA, CSA, Joseph Olmsted (STScI)

Everyone: this is cool! Neil deGrass Tyson: The light would travel away from these planets as the gravity well is not strong enough to hold the light in orbit, akschwally.

I wanna see it go around Pluto too though😞

Wow

Wow a lot slower than I imagined

💫

you can't say that with video playback on most devices