Proxima Centauri is the closest star to our Sun

PHYSICS · Multi-part · A Level · Physics · Astrophysics · Astrophysics

Problem

Proxima Centauri is the closest star to our Sun. It is 3.78×1016 m3.78 \times 10^{16} \text{ m} from the Earth. (The speed of light, c=3.0×108 ms−1c = 3.0 \times 10^{8} \text{ ms}^{-1} ) (1) Calculate the time it takes for light to travel from Proxima Centauri to the Earth. (2) How else could the distance from Proxima Centauri to the Earth be stated?

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