Someone break this down for me. Light moves at a set speed. It travels the cosmos and we see it at its distance of origin but only at a set place in time that the origin of light originated at? Is there a mathematical calculation to determine the distance of time in space using light years?

such as X light years = x years of space?

a light year=a year worth of traveling at light speed.

so if something is 1 light year away you would have to travel at the speed of light to get there in a year.

What does that break down into miles or kilometers?

A light year is 6 trillion miles.

1 light year = 5.87849981 × 1012 miles

1 light year = 9.4605284 × 1012 kilometers

The speed of light is 299,792,458 meters per second (defined). There are 525,600 minutes in a year (thanks, Rent!) so multiply that by 60 to get the number of seconds in a year. Multiple the two to and then divide by 1000 to get the number of kilometers in a lightyear.

This post was edited by bentherdonethat on Aug 14 2012 08:29pm

Thank you. That gives me all I need to go on.