The Mileage of Light
May 28th, 2011
If you're driving
down a dark road on a starry night, you might want
to check the odometer.
Earlier this month, when traveling astronomer Dennis Mammana did
he was greeted with the significant mileage reading
of 186,282 miles.
That's the number of miles
light travels
in one second.
Or, if you prefer kilometers, the number you are looking for is
299,792.
Mammana muses that in driving to countless
observatories,
star parties, and
night
sky photo shoots it has taken his 1998 vintage
sport utility vehicle over 13 years to cover that distance.
Of course, he considers his next important
mileage milestone to be the distance
to the Moon.
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