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[deleted] t1_j20mdme wrote

[deleted]

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_OBAFGKM_ t1_j20n6h9 wrote

> Light minutes, on the other hand, are a unit of time, not distance. They are used to measure the time it takes for light to travel a certain distance. For example, it takes about 8 minutes for light to travel from the Sun to the Earth, so the distance from the Sun to the Earth is about 8 light minutes

You've contradicted yourself in this paragraph. Light minutes are not a measurement of time, they're a measurement of distance. You know this intuitively because you explained it correctly the final sentence here

Astronomers don't use light minutes within the solar system because they don't really care about light within the solar system, AU is just a more convenient unit.

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its-octopeople t1_j20qb7y wrote

I'm pretty sure this answer was written by ChatGPT.

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frakkinreddit t1_j20to0x wrote

Pretty sure you are spot on. Look at all those other posts all at the same time.

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Target880 t1_j20nnxd wrote

>Light minutes, on the other hand, are a unit of time, not distance.

Light minutes are a unit of distance just like a light year is. In SI base units are speed is in m/s and time is in seconds so speed * time =m /s * s =m

A light second is exactly 17,987,547,480 m

That is because the speed of light is by definition 299,792,458 m/s so just multiply that by 60 seconds and you ger the distance above. If we improve measurement it is the meter that changes not the speed of light. A meter is the distance light travels in 1/299,792,458 of a second in a vacuum.

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breckenridgeback t1_j20ochu wrote

> Light minutes, on the other hand, are a unit of time, not distance.

...what? no.

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