Courses
Courses for Kids
Free study material
Offline Centres
More
Store Icon
Store

How far is the moon in light years from earth?

seo-qna
SearchIcon
Answer
VerifiedVerified
427.5k+ views
Hint: The moon is the largest natural satellite in the Solar system and its average distance from the earth is 384,400 km. It takes 27 days to rotate on its own axis.

Complete answer: The Moon is the largest natural satellite in the solar system which is relatively equal to the size of its planet. The average distance between the Earth and the moon is 384,400 km. Light travels at the speed of 300,000 km per second so when we calculate the distance by the speed, then it takes 1.28133...seconds for light to travel from the moon back to the earth.
Its gravity is one-sixth of the earth’s which is 0.1654 g. The moon takes 27 days to rotate on its axis but around the earth it takes 27.322 days that is why the moon does not seem to be spinning but from the earth it looks almost perfectly still. Scientists named this as a synchronous rotation.

Note: Moon does not have its own light as it shines due to the reflected light of the sun and if the moon emits its own light then it would have no shadow and no phases.