Home > Universe and Solar System MCQ Questions with Answers > How long does light take to reach the Earth from the Sun?
How long does light take to reach the Earth from the Sun?
A
About 4 minutes
B
About 8 minutes
C
About 24 minutes
D
About 24 hours
Correct Answer:
B
About 8 minutes
The sunlight on your face right now left the Sun 8 minutes ago. The Sun is approximately 150 million kilometres away from Earth, and even light travelling at 300,000 km per second needs 8 minutes and 20 seconds to cover that distance. This means we never see the Sun as it actually is right now — we always see it as it was 8 minutes in the past. If the Sun disappeared this very moment, we would still see it shining for the next 8 minutes before darkness hit Earth.
- Distance: Earth is 150 million km (1 Astronomical Unit) from the Sun
- Travel Time: Light takes exactly 8 minutes and 20 seconds to reach Earth from the Sun
- Speed of Light: 3 × 10⁸ m/s — dividing 150 million km gives approximately 500 seconds
- Astronomical Unit: Earth-Sun distance of 150 million km is defined as 1 AU
- Interesting Fact: Light from Proxima Centauri takes 4.24 years — compared to just 8 minutes from our Sun