Astronomical distances are vast, making standard units like kilometres or miles impractical. A light- year is defined as the distance light travels in one year in a vacuum. The use of light-years as a unit of distance in astronomy is based on the fact that the speed of light in a vacuum is a constant (approximately 299,792,458 meters per second). This constant speed provides a reliable basis for measuring extremely large distances across space based on time.
Which one of the following is a reason why astronomical distances are measured in light- years?
Asked in UPSC IAS 2021 · Topic: Measurement/Unit (Non-SI Units (e.g., Astronomical Unit, Light-Year, Electron-Volt))
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