S1 · E5
Light-Year
Published
Aura comes home from school. Today, for the first time, she knows something Daddy doesn't.
Today, Aura came home from school with a question.
"Daddy. What's a light-year?"
Daddy was sure he knew. "Easy," he said. "It's how long a year is. But with light."
Aura crossed her arms. "No," she said.
A light-year is not a kind of year. It's a distance.
Light moves very, very fast. Faster than anything else in the universe. A light-year is how far light can travel in one whole year. That's a long, long way.
We use light-years to talk about how far away the stars are. The closest star to our Sun is more than four light-years away. The light coming from it tonight left that star four years ago.
When you look at a star, you are looking back in time.
Aura had read about it in her space book.
Daddy reached for his phone to look it up. But Aura saw him.
"Don't google it, Daddy. You should already know."
In the doorway, Mummy laughed.