Question

When a solar flare erupts on the surface of the sun, how many minutes after it occurs does its light show up in an astronomer's telescope on earth?

I am totally confused..help!
How far is the sun from earth? The speed of light is approximately 186,282 miles/second.
Distance from sun to earth is about 93,000,000 miles.
So distance = speed of light x time
93,000,000 = 186,282 x seconds.
Solve for seconds.
seconds = 93,000,000/186,282 = about 499 seconds or about 8 minutes.
distance = rate * time
so
time = distance/ rate

for rate use the speed of light in meters/second
for distance use the distance from sun to earth in meters
then
divide by 60 to get minutes instead of seconds
ok thank you! I wasn't using the right numbers!

Related Questions

Suppose an astronomer oberserves a huge solar flare. Predict its effect on Earth in the next day or... Suppose an astronomer oberserves a huge solar flare. Predict its effect on Earth in the next day o... An astronomy student is studying the sun. While monitoring her equipment, she observes a solar flare...