Convert one light-year to petameters

Explanation

To convert one light-year to petameters all we need is to know the conversion factor and we are done. Luckily, we can compute that factor using the units' definitions below.

The result is that there are approximately 9.4607 petameters in 1 light-year.

Formula

1 ly ≈ 9.4607 Pm

light-yearsly

dimension	length
symbol	ly

The light-year (ly) is a unit of length.

It is used to measure astronomical distances like the one between stars or the size of galaxies in popular science publications. It is superseded by the parsec in scientific contexts.

Definition of the light-year

A light-year is the distance that light travels in vacuum in one julian year (i.e. 365.25 days of 86400 seconds each).

Value in terms of the SI

One light-year is equivalent to 9460730472580800 meters.

Equivalences

One light-year is also equivalent to:

Some Facts

After the Sun, Proxima Centauri is the nearest star. Nearest and yet extremely far away, 4.244 light-years (25 trillion miles) from Earth. We have to agree that in a first approximation, the universe is almost empty. And yet, here we are, converting things to light-years.

Other Light Lengths

light-nanosecond	lns	0.000 000 001
light-microsecond	lµs	0.000 001
light-millisecond	lms	0.001
light-second	ls	1
light-minute	lmin	60
light-hour	lh	3600
light-day	ld	86 400
light-year	ly	31 557 600
kilolight-year	kly	31 557 600 000
megalight-year	Mly	31 557 600 000 000
gigalight-year	Gly	31 557 600 000 000 000

petametersPm

dimension	length
system	International system of units (SI)
symbol	Pm

The petameter (Pm) is a unit of length in the International System of Units.

In ascending order, the petameter comes after the terameter and before the exameter.

Definition of the petameter

One petameter is equal to 1000000000000000 meters.

Equivalences

One petameter is equivalent to:

Some Facts

With the petameter we can go beyond the solar system and into interstallar space. The nearest star is approximately 40 petameters away from us.

Could you travel one whole petameter in your life? Well, kinda. With a speed of 29.78 km/s around the Sun, the Earth covers that distance in a bit more than 106 years. You just need to hang in there.

Prefix

peta

10¹⁵

The prefix peta- comes from the ancient Greek penta meaning five. The associated multiplicative factor is 1 000 000 000 000 000 or 10¹⁵.

Metric length units

femtometer	fm	0.000 000 000 000 001
picometer	pm	0.000 000 000 001
nanometer	nm	0.000 000 001
micrometer	µm	0.000 001
millimeter	mm	0.001
centimeter	cm	0.01
decimeter	dm	0.1
meter	m	1
dekameter	dam	10
hectometer	hm	100
kilometer	km	1000
megameter	Mm	1 000 000
gigameter	Gm	1 000 000 000
terameter	Tm	1 000 000 000 000
petameter	Pm	1 000 000 000 000 000
exameter	Em	1 000 000 000 000 000 000

The International System of Units

The International System of Units or SI (from the French Système international (d'unité)), also called metric system in the U.S., is a coherent system of units that was published 1960. It is official in nearly every country.

The General Conference on Weights and Measures (Conférence générale des poids et mesures) is tasked with overseeing the SI.