Light-Years: Units of Linear Distance

[taselby]

This is a re-post for unlocking purposes.

I run across this more often than I should when reading fanfiction.

A light-year is a measure of distance, not of time. It is the distance that light will travel during one earth year (365.25 days, if you want to be picky). One of Earth's nearest neighbors, Alpha Centauri, is 4.3 light-years away. Light

Comments

[mzcalypso]

This reminds me of Han Solo talking about how many "parsecs" it took him to make the Kessel Run. Wrongo, reindeer lovers!

[taselby]

*wince* Yeah, that one still hurts me. Where was the editor? The consultant? The friend with a science background who said WTF? Do some goddamn research, Lucas!

[mzcalypso]

I had a friend who actually wrote a fanfic to explain that blooper--she had Han find some shortcut through hyperspace, like finding a route that took only 3.5 miles instead of 5.

I know Gene Roddenberry had research peeps to consider the plausibility of his ideas; I think Ron Moore did. But George Lucas, bless him, was a child of Hollywood. Science geeks may get into filmmaking, but I think it's rare that movie geeks get into science.

[gryphonrhi]

Hoo boy. This and your next post have me going, 'No, really, people screwed those up? Seriously?' Thanks for the link to science_beta, though, I may need them for a fic soon. (I have gotten talked into writing a wildass crossover because it screams to be done and my science, she is not up to this much strain. I think.)

{{hugs}}