How do I calculate light years to years?

[Kronos5253]

I have a question, sparked by http://http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/12/16/super.earth.discovery/index.html" article, so I figured this would be the best place to put this.

That is said to be 40 light years away... So if we're seeing a planet 2.7 times the size of Earth with liquid water on it, and it's 40 light years away, how do you calculate how far into the past we are seeing this planet?

 

[sylas]

I have a question, sparked by http://http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/12/16/super.earth.discovery/index.html" article, so I figured this would be the best place to put this.

That is said to be 40 light years away... So if we're seeing a planet 2.7 times the size of Earth with liquid water on it, and it's 40 light years away, how do you calculate how far into the past we are seeing this planet?

If it is 40 light years away, then the light we see reveals the planet as it was 40 years ago.

 

[Kronos5253]

If it is 40 light years away, then the light we see reveals the planet as it was 40 years ago.

In terms of light years, yes... I basically mean 'Earth years'.. Meaning if we were to travel to that planet, how old would we be when we got there?

I tried finding a formula to figure that out, but I haven't really found anything.. So any help would be appreciated :)

 

[DaveC426913]

Entirely depends on how fast you travel there. Need to know acceleration, top speed, coasting time and deceleration.

The more of your journey you spend at near c, and the closer you get to c, the shorter the duration. There is no limit in principle to how short the duration can be by maximizing these two factors.

In my http://www.davesbrain.ca/science/gliese/index.html" I used the distance of 22.6 ly and an acceleration/deceleration of 1g. The result was a 22.6ly journey with the crew experiencing a mere 6.1 years.

 

[russ_watters]

In terms of light years, yes... I basically mean 'Earth years'.. Meaning if we were to travel to that planet, how old would we be when we got there?

I tried finding a formula to figure that out, but I haven't really found anything.. So any help would be appreciated :)

Here's the equation and a calculator that you can plug sample values into if you don't want to do the calculation yoursefl: http://www.1728.com/reltivty.htm

Note that this question is completely different than the one you asked in your first post.

 

[Kronos5253]

Here's the equation and a calculator that you can plug sample values into if you don't want to do the calculation yoursefl: http://www.1728.com/reltivty.htm

Note that this question is completely different than the one you asked in your first post.

Yeah I realized that... And I realized that the answer to the first post is the answer I was looking for haha... I figured it would be a bigger number, but it makes sense to me.

Thanks for the answers though everyone :)