WHAT IS A LIGHT YEAR

In the first movie in the Toy Story franchise, character Buzz Lightyear is introduced. He is the main character of a new line of toys, per the movie plot, made up of a space ranger battalion.

Obviously, this column will not be about Buzz Lightyear, but it will be about his namesake. A light year is something you may have heard of during certain conversations about space, but maybe it’s never been fully explained to you. I, for one, didn’t understand until it was completely explained in some sciencey documentary back in 2018.

According to NASA, a “light-year is the distance light travels in one year.” Not only is it a measure of distance, but time as well. Distance wise, a light year is five point 88 (5.88) trillion miles, or nine point 46 (9.46) trillion kilometers.

To put that into perspective, our solar system is only 0.00127 of a light year long, and the closest star to Earth is around five light years away.