Light from the Sun takes approximately 8 minutes and 20 seconds to travel to Earth. This value is known as the "light travel time" and is based on the average distance between the Sun and Earth, which is about 93 million miles (150 million kilometers). The exact time can vary slightly due to the elliptical shape of Earth's orbit and the fact that the distance between the Sun and Earth changes as they orbit each other.
The distance between Mars and Earth varies as both planets have elliptical orbits around the Sun. On average, Mars is about 225 million kilometers (140 million miles) away from Earth. However, this distance can change significantly as both planets orbit the Sun at different speeds and in different paths. The closest approach, known as opposition, occurs approximately every 26 months, when Mars and the Sun are on directly opposite sides of Earth. At opposition, Mars can come as close as about 54.6 million kilometers (33.9 million miles). The farthest distance between the two planets occurs when Mars is on the opposite side of its orbit from Earth. For More Planetary Facts & Space Animation: Space Balls Videos
Comments
Post a Comment