Light Year to Meter Converter

Convert between light years (ly) and meters (m) for astronomical distances, space exploration, stellar measurements, and cosmic scale calculations

Light Years (ly)

Distance light travels in one year

Meters (m)

Base SI unit of length

Enter a value to see the conversion result

Distance Reference

Light Years	⇔	Meters
1 ly	⇔	9.46×10¹⁵ m
4.37 ly	⇔	4.13×10¹⁶ m
25 ly	⇔	2.37×10¹⁷ m
100 ly	⇔	9.46×10¹⁷ m
1,000 ly	⇔	9.46×10¹⁸ m
100,000 ly	⇔	9.46×10²⁰ m

Astronomical Objects

Nearest Stars:
• Proxima Centauri: 4.24 ly
• Alpha Centauri A&B: 4.37 ly
• Barnard's Star: 5.96 ly
• Wolf 359: 7.86 ly

Notable Distances:
• Sirius (brightest star): 8.6 ly
• Vega: 25 ly
• Polaris (North Star): 433 ly
• Betelgeuse: 650 ly

Galactic Scale:
• Milky Way diameter: ~100,000 ly
• Galactic center: ~26,000 ly
• Andromeda Galaxy: 2.5 million ly
• Observable universe: 93 billion ly

Distance Units

ly: 9.461×10¹⁵ meters
m: Base SI length unit
Speed of light: 299,792,458 m/s
One year: 365.25 days

Usage Tips

ly for cosmic distances
m for scientific calculations
Use scientific notation
Consider relativistic effects

Applications

Astronomy: Stellar distances
Research: Cosmology studies
Education: Space science
Navigation: Space missions