‘The distance of a star from the earth is 8.33 light minutes’. What do you mean by this statement? Express the distance in metre.

‘The distance of a star from the earth is 8.33 light minutes’ implies, it takes 8.33 minutes for light to reach the earth from the star.

Speed = 3 × 10⁸ms^-1

Time = 8.33 min

= 8.33 × 60s

= 499.8s ≈ 500s

Distance = speed × time

Substituting the values in the formula above we get,

Distance = 3 × 10⁸ × 500

= 1500 × 10⁸

= 1.5 × 10¹¹

∴ The distance from the star to the earth is 1.5 x 10¹¹ m.