a light year in kilometres
- Value
- 1
- From
- Light year
- To
- Kilometre
Result94,60,73,04,72,580.802734
the speed of light times a Julian year, exact
Open this exampleConversionsscience
Astronomical Distance Converter
Astronomical distances across light years, parsecs and astronomical units. A parsec is not a science-fiction invention: it is the distance at which one astronomical unit subtends one arcsecond.
Also called: light years to km, parsec converter.
Result
94,60,73,04,72,580.802734
1 Light year is 94,60,73,04,72,580.802734 Kilometre. The factor is NaN, and the inverse is 0. The table below gives the same value in every astro unit at once.
Conversion factor
NaN
Inverse factor
0
Value in metre
NaN
Converting from
Light year
Converting to
Kilometre
Dimension
astro
The same value in every astro unit
| Unit | Value |
|---|---|
| Kilometre | 94,60,73,04,72,580.8 |
| Mile | 58,78,62,53,73,183.61 |
| Astronomical unit | 63,241.08 |
| Light year | 1 |
| Parsec | 0.31 |
| Light second | 3,15,57,600 |
| Light minute | 5,25,960 |
Method and background
How this is calculated
The astronomical unit is the Earth to Sun distance, fixed by definition since 2012. A light year is the distance light travels in a Julian year. A parsec comes from parallax: it is the distance at which the Earth’s orbital radius subtends one arcsecond, which makes it about 3.26 light years and the natural unit for anything measured by parallax.
result = value * factor_from / factor_to- k
- Each unit's size in metre
Worked examples
Each of these is asserted on every build. If a change to the engine ever moved one of these answers, the build would fail before the page could print it.
a parsec is about 3.26 light years
- Value
- 1
- From
- Parsec
- To
- Light year
Result3.261564
from the parallax definition, computed independently
Open this examplelight takes eight minutes from the Sun
- Value
- 1
- From
- Astronomical unit
- To
- Light minute
Result8.316746
boundary: the familiar fact this dimension makes checkable
Open this example