How long does it take for the sun’s light to reach earth?
It takes about 8 minutes and 20 seconds for the light from the sun to reach Earth.
The distance from the Sun to Earth is about 93 million miles (150 million kilometers). Light travels at an average speed of 186,000 miles (299,000 kilometers) per second. So even though light travels at an incredibly fast speed, it still takes time for the sunlight to travel that far.
It takes the Sun’s light longer to reach other planets in our Solar System. For example, it takes sunlight about 30 minutes to reach Mars and over 4 hours to reach Neptune! The farther away a planet is from the Sun, the longer it takes for its light to reach Earth. It’s incredible that we can measure distances on such a massive scale!