How and why light-years are used to measure distances in the universe?

1 Answer
Peter
Jan 8, 2016

A type of scientific notation used in place of extremely large numbers.

Explanation:

1 light years equals 5,879,000,000,000 miles; the distance light travels in one years. Considering astronomers have placed the size of our universe at approximately 45 billion light years it makes for a much smaller and more comprehendible number than 45 billion times 5,879,000,000,000 to get the number equal to the approximate size of our universe.

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