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Light-year
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For other uses, see Light year (disambiguation).
Light-year
Map showing the stars that lie within 12.5 light-years of the Sun[1]
Unit information
Unit system
astronomy units
Unit of
length
Symbol
ly[2]
Unit conversions
1 ly[2] in ... ... is equal to ...
metric (SI) units
7015946070000000000♠9.4607×1015 m
7015946070000000000♠9.4607 Pm
imperial & US units
7015946068963840000♠5.8786×1012 mi
astronomical units
7015946071894093870♠63241 au
7015946068746477840♠0.3066 pc
The light-year is a unit of length used to express astronomical distances and measures about 9.5 trillion kilometres or 5.9 trillion miles.[note 1] As defined by the International Astronomical Union (IAU), a light-year is the distance that light travels in vacuum in one Julian year (365.25 days).[2] Because it includes the word "year", the term light-year is sometimes misinterpreted as a unit of time, as a year is a unit of time equivalent to approximately 365 days.
The light-year is most often used when expressing distances to stars and other distances on a galactic scale, especially in nonspecialist and popular science publications. The unit most commonly used in professional astrometry is the parsec (symbol: pc, about 3.26 light-years; the distance at which one astronomical unit subtends an angle of one second of arc).[2]
Contents
[hide]
1 Definitions
2 History
3 Usage of term
4 Related units
5 See also
6 Notes
7 References
Definitions[edit]
As defined by the IAU, the light-year is the product of the Julian year[note 2] (365.25 days as opposed to the 365.2425-day Gregorian year) and the speed of light (7008299792458000000♠299792458 m/s).[note 3] Both these values are included in the IAU (1976) System of Astronomical Constants, used since 1984.[4] From this, the following conversions can be derived. The IAU recognized abbreviation for light-year is ly,[2] although other standards like ISO 80000 use "l.y."[5][6] and localized symbols are frequent, such as "al" in French (from année-lumière) and Spanish (from año luz), "Lj" in German (from Lichtjahr), etc.
1 light-year = 7015946073047258080♠9460730472580800 metres (exactly)
≈ 7000946100000000000♠9.461 petametres
≈ 7000946100000000000♠9.461 trillion kilometres
≈ 7000587862500000000♠5.878625 trillion miles
≈ 7004632410770000000♠63241.077 astronomical units
≈ 6999306601000000000♠0.306601 parsecs
Before 1984, the tropical year (not the Julian year) and a measured (not defined) speed of light were included in the IAU (1964) System of Astronomical Constants, used from 1968 to 1983.[7] The product of Simon Newcomb's J1900.0 mean tropical year of 7007315569259747000♠31556925.9747 ephemeris seconds and a speed of light of 7008299792500000000♠299792.5 km/s produced a light-year of 7015946053000000000♠9.460530×1015 m (rounded to the seven significant digits in the speed of light) found in several modern sources[8][9][10] was probably derived from an old source such as C. W. Allen's 1973 Astrophysical Quantities reference work,[11] which was updated in 2000, including the IAU (1976) value cited above (truncated to 10 significant digits).[12]
Other high-precision values are not derived from a coherent IAU system. A value of 7015946053620700000♠9.460536207×1015 m found in some modern sources[13][14] is the product of a mean Gregorian year (365.2425 days or 7007315569520000000♠31556952 s) and the defined speed of light (7008299792458000000♠299792458 m/s). Another value, 7015946052840500000♠9.460528405×1015 m,[15][16] is the product of the J1900.0 mean tropical year and the defined speed of light.
Abbreviations used for light years and multiples of light years are
"ly" for one light year
"kly" for a kilolight-year (1,000 light years)
"Mly" for a megalight-year (1,000,000 light years)
"Gly" for a gigalight-year (1,000,000,000 light years)
History[edit]
The light-year unit appeared a few years after the first successful measurement of the distance to a star other than the Sun, by Friedrich Bessel in 1838. The star was 61 Cygni, and he used a 6.2-inch (160 mm) heliometer designed by Joseph von Fraunhofer. The largest unit for expressing distances across space at that time was the astronomical unit, equal to the radius of the Earth's orbit (7011150000000000000♠1.50×108 km or 7011149668992000000♠9.30×107 mi). In those terms, trigonometric calculations based on 61 Cygni's parallax of 0.314 arcseconds, showed the distance to the star to be 7005660000000000000♠660000 astronomical units (7016990000000000000♠9.9×1013 km or 7016981699840000000♠6.1×1013 mi). Bessel added that light employs 10.3 years to traverse this distance.[17] He recognized that his readers would enjoy the mental picture of the approximate transit time for light, but he refrained from using the light-year as a unit. He may have resented expressing distances in light-years because it would deteriorate the accuracy of his parallax data due to multiplying with the uncertain parameter of the speed of light. The speed of light was not yet precisely known in 1838; its value changed in 1849 (Fizeau) and 1862 (Foucault). It was not yet considered to be a fundamental constant of nature, and the propagation of light through the aether or space was still enigmatic. The light-year unit appeared, however, in 1851 in a German popular astronomical article by Otto Ule.[18] The paradox of a distance unit name ending on "year"' was explained by Ule by comparing it to a hiking road hour (Wegstunde). A contemporary German popular astronomical book also noticed that light-year is an odd name.[19] In 1868 an English journal labelled the light-year as a unit used by the Germans.[20] Eddington called the light-year an inconvenient and irrelevant unit, which had sometimes crept from popular use into technical investigations.[21]
Although modern astronomers often prefer to use the parsec, light years are also popularly used to gauge the expanses of interstellar and intergalactic space.
Usage of term[edit]
Distances expressed in light-years include those between stars in the same general area, such as those belonging to the same spiral arm or globular cluster. Galaxies themselves span from a few thousand to a few hundred thousand light-years in diameter, and are separated from neighbouring galaxies and galaxy clusters by millions of light-years. Distances to objects such as quasars and the Sloan Great Wall run up into the billions of light-years.
List of orders of magnitude for length
Scale (ly)
Value
Item
10−9 7008382213511092264♠40.4×10−9 ly Reflected sunlight from the Moon's surface takes 1.2–1.3 seconds to travel the distance to the Earth's surface (travelling roughly 7005350000000000000♠350000 to 7005400000000000000♠400000 kilometres).
10−6 7011149479541466776♠15.8×10−6 ly One astronomical unit (the distance from the Sun to the Earth). It takes approximately 499 seconds (8.32 minutes) for light to travel this distance.[22]
7012120151277001776♠127×10−6 ly The Huygens probe lands on Titan off Saturn and transmits images from its surface, 1.2 billion kilometres from Earth.
7012476820815818072♠504×10−6 ly New Horizons encounters Pluto at a distance 4.7 billion kilometres, and the communication takes 4 hours 25 minutes to reach Earth.
10−3 7013192998901640648♠2.04×10−3 ly The most distant space probe, Voyager 1, was about 18 light-hours away from the Earth as of October 2014[update].[23] It will take about 7004175000000000000♠17500 years to reach one light-year (7015946073047258080♠1.0×100 ly) at its current speed of about 17 km/s (7004169875200000000♠38000 mph) relative to the Sun. On September 12, 2013, NASA scientists announced that Voyager 1 had entered the interstellar medium of space on August 25, 2012, becoming the first manmade object to leave the Solar System.[24]
100 7016151371687561292♠1.6×100 ly The Oort cloud is approximately two light-years in diameter. Its inner boundary is speculated to be at 7015747989353500000♠50000 au, with its outer edge at 7016149597870700000♠100000 au.
7016189214609451616♠2.0×100 ly Maximum extent of the Sun's gravitational dominance (Hill sphere/Roche sphere, 7016186997338375000♠125000 au). Beyond this is the deep ex-solar gravitational interstellar medium.
7016399242825942909♠4.22×100 ly The nearest known star (other than the Sun), Proxima Centauri, is about 4.22 light-years away.[25][26]
7016813622820641948♠8.60×100 ly Sirius, the brightest star of the night sky. Twice as massive and 25 times more luminous than the Sun, it outshines more luminous stars due to its relative proximity.
7017112582692623711♠11.90×100 ly HD 10700 e, an extrasolar candidate for a habitable planet. 6.6 times as massive as the earth, it is in the middle of the habitable zone of star Tau Ceti.[27][28]
7017193944974687906♠20.5×100 ly Gliese 581, a red-dwarf star with several detectable exoplanets.
7018293282644650004♠310×100 ly Canopus, second in brightness in the terrestrial sky only to Sirius, a type F supergiant 7004150000000000000♠15000 times more luminous than the Sun.
103 7019283821914177424♠3×103 ly A0620-00, the nearest known black hole, is about 7003300000000000000♠3000 light-years away.
7020245978992287100♠26×103 ly The centre of the Milky Way is about 7004260000000000000♠26000 light-years away.[29][30]
7020946073047258079♠100×103 ly The Milky Way is about 7005100000000000000♠100000 light-years across.
7021156102052797583♠165×103 ly R136a1, in the Large Magellanic Cloud, the most luminous star known at 8.7 million times the luminosity of the Sun, has an apparent magnitude 12.77, just brighter than 3C 273.
106 7022236518261814520♠2.5×106 ly The Andromeda Galaxy is approximately 2.5 million light-years away.
7022283821914177424♠3×106 ly The Triangulum Galaxy (M33), at about 3 million light-years away, is the most distant object visible to the naked eye.
7023558183097882267♠59×106 ly The nearest large galaxy cluster, the Virgo Cluster, is about 59 million light-years away.
7008150000000000000♠150×106 – 7024236518261814520♠250×106 ly The Great Attractor lies at a distance of somewhere between 150 and 250 million light-years (the latter being the most recent estimate).
109 7025113528765670969♠1.2×109 ly The Sloan Great Wall (not to be confused with Great Wall and Her–CrB GW) has been measured to be approximately one billion light-years distant.
7025227057531341939♠2.4×109 ly 3C 273, optically the brightest quasar, of apparent magnitude 12.9, just dimmer than R136a1. 3C 273 is about 2.4 billion light-years away.
7026432355382596942♠45.7×109 ly The comoving distance from the Earth to the edge of the visible universe is about 45.7 billion light-years in any direction; this is the comoving radius of the observable universe. This is larger than the age of the universe dictated by the cosmic background radiation; see here for why this is possible.
Related units[edit]
Distances between objects within a star system tend to be small fractions of a light year, and are usually expressed in astronomical units. However, smaller units of length can similarly be formed usefully by multiplying units of time by the speed of light. For example, the light-second, useful in astronomy, telecommunications and relativistic physics, is exactly 7008299792458000000♠299792458 metres or 1⁄7007315576000000000♠31557600 of a light-year. Units such as the light-minute, light-hour and light-day are sometimes used in popular science publications. The light-month, roughly one-twelfth of a light-year, is also used occasionally for approximate measures.[31][32] The Hayden Planetarium specifies the light month more precisely as 30 days of light travel time.[33]
Light travels approximately one foot in a nanosecond; the term "light-foot" is sometimes used as an informal measure of time.[34]
See also[edit]
Listen to this article (info/dl)

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Look up light-year in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
1 petametre (examples of distances on the order of one light-year)
Einstein protocol
Hubble length
Orders of magnitude (length)
Speed of light
Distance measures (cosmology)
Notes[edit]
Jump up ^ One trillion here is taken to be 1012 (one million million, or billion in long scale).
Jump up ^ One Julian year is of exactly 365.25 days (or 7007315576000000000♠31557600 s based on a day of exactly 7004864000000000000♠86400 SI seconds)[3]
Jump up ^ The speed of light is exactly 7008299792458000000♠299792458 m/s by definition of the metre.
References[edit]
Jump up ^ The Universe within 12.5 Light Years: The Nearest Stars
^ Jump up to: a b c d International Astronomical Union, Measuring the Universe: The IAU and Astronomical Units, retrieved 10 November 2013
Jump up ^ IAU Recommendations concerning Units, archived from the original on 2007-02-16
Jump up ^ "Selected Astronomical Constants" in Astronomical Almanac, p. 6.
Jump up ^ ISO 80000-3:2006 Quantities and Units - Space and Time
Jump up ^ IEEE/ASTM SI 10-2010, American National Standard for Metric Practice
Jump up ^ P. Kenneth Seidelmann, ed. (1992), Explanatory Supplement to the Astronomical Almanac, Mill Valley, California: University Science Books, p. 656, ISBN 0-935702-68-7
Jump up ^ Basic Constants, Sierra College
Jump up ^ Marc Sauvage, Table of astronomical constants, archived from the original on 2008-12-11
Jump up ^ Robert A. Braeunig, Basic Constants
Jump up ^ C. W. Allen (1973), Astrophysical Quantities (third ed.), London: Athlone, p. 16, ISBN 0-485-11150-0
Jump up ^ Arthur N. Cox, ed. (2000), Allen's Astrophysical Quantities (fourth ed.), New York: Springer-Valeg, p. 12, ISBN 0-387-98746-0
Jump up ^ Nick Strobel, Astronomical Constants
Jump up ^ KEKB, Astronomical Constants
Jump up ^ Thomas Szirtes (1997), Applied dimensional analysis and modeling, New York: McGraw-Hill, p. 60, ISBN 9780070628113
Jump up ^ Sun, Moon, and Earth: Light-year
Jump up ^ Bessel, Friedrich (1839). "On the parallax of the star 61 Cygni". London and Edinburgh Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science. 14: 68–72. Retrieved 4 April 2014. Bessel's statement that light employs 10.3 years to traverse the distance.
Jump up ^ Ule, Otto (1851). "Was wir in den Sternen lesen". Deutsches Museum: Zeitschrift für Literatur, Kunst und Öffentliches Leben. 1: 721–738. Retrieved 4 April 2014.
Jump up ^ Diesterweg, Adolph Wilhelm (1855). Populäre Himmelskunde u. astronomische Geographie. p. 250.
Jump up ^ The Student and Intellectual Observer of Science, Literature and Art. Retrieved 1 November 2014.
Jump up ^ "Stellar movements and the structure of the universe". Retrieved 1 November 2014.
Jump up ^ "Chapter 1, Table 1-1", IERS Conventions (2003)
Jump up ^ WHERE ARE THE VOYAGERS?, retrieved 14 October 2014
Jump up ^ NASA Spacecraft Embarks on Historic Journey Into Interstellar Space, retrieved 14 October 2014
Jump up ^ NASA, Cosmic Distance Scales - The Nearest Star
Jump up ^ "Proxima Centauri (Gliese 551)", Encyclopedia of Astrobiology, Astronomy, and Spaceflight
Jump up ^ "Tau Ceti's planets nearest around single, Sun-like star". BBC News. 19 December 2012. Retrieved 1 November 2014.
Jump up ^ Tuomi, Mikko; Jones, Hugh R. A.; Jenkins, James S.; Tinney, Chris G.; Butler, R. Paul; Vogt, Steve S.; Barnes, John R.; Wittenmyer, Robert A.; O'Toole, Simon; Horner, Jonathan; Bailey, Jeremy; Carter, Brad D.; Wright, Duncan J.; Salter, Graeme S.; Pinfield, David (2012). "Signals embedded in the radial velocity noise: periodic variations in the τ Ceti velocities" (PDF). arXiv:1212.4277  . Bibcode:2013A&A...551A..79T. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201220509.
Jump up ^ Eisenhauer, F.; Schdel, R.; Genzel, R.; Ott, T.; Tecza, M.; Abuter, R.; Eckart, A.; Alexander, T. (2003), "A Geometric Determination of the Distance to the Galactic Center", The Astrophysical Journal, 597 (2): L121, arXiv:astro-ph/0306220  , Bibcode:2003ApJ...597L.121E, doi:10.1086/380188
Jump up ^ McNamara, D. H.; Madsen, J. B.; Barnes, J.; Ericksen, B. F. (2000), "The Distance to the Galactic Center", Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, 112 (768): 202, Bibcode:2000PASP..112..202M, doi:10.1086/316512
Jump up ^ Fujisawa, K.; Inoue, M.; Kobayashi, H.; Murata, Y.; Wajima, K.; Kameno, S.; Edwards, P. G.; Hirabayashi, H.; Morimoto, M. (2000), "Large Angle Bending of the Light-Month Jet in Centaurus A", Publ. Astron. Soc. Jpn., 52 (6): 1021–26, Bibcode:2000PASJ...52.1021F, doi:10.1093/pasj/52.6.1021, archived from the original on 2009-09-02
Jump up ^ Junor, W.; Biretta, J. A. (1994), "The Inner Light-Month of the M87 Jet", in Zensus, J. Anton; Kellermann; Kenneth I., Compact Extragalactic Radio Sources, Proceedings of the NRAO workshop held at Socorro, New Mexico, February 11–12, 1994, Green Bank, WV: National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), p. 97, Bibcode:1994cers.conf...97J
Jump up ^ Light-Travel Time and Distance by the Hayden Planetarium Accessed October 2010.
Jump up ^ David Mermin (2009). It's About Time: Understanding Einstein's Relativity. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. p. 22. ISBN 978-0-691-14127-5.
[hide]
v
t
e
Units of length used in Astronomy
Astronomical system of units
Earth radius (R⊕ or RE)
Light-second (ls)
Solar radius (R☉)
gigametre (Gm)
Astronomical unit (AU)
terametre (Tm)
light-year (ly)
parsec (pc)
kiloparsec (kpc)
megaparsec (Mpc)
gigaparsec (Gpc)
See also
Cosmic distance ladder
Orders of magnitude (length)
Conversion of units
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Count Ossie
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (March 2016) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)
Count Ossie
Background information
Birth name
Oswald Williams
Born
1926
Origin
St. Thomas, Jamaica
Died
18 October 1976 (aged 50)
Genres
Reggae
Occupation(s)
Musician
Instruments
Akete
Years active
late 1950s-1976
Count Ossie, born Oswald Williams (1926 – 18 October 1976)[1] was a Jamaican Rastafari drummer and band leader.
Contents
[hide]
1 Biography
2 Discography
3 References
4 External links
Biography[edit]
In the early 1950s he set up a Rasta community in Rockfort near Wareika Hill on the east side of Kingston, where many of Kingston's musicians learned about the Rastafari movement.[1][2] In the late 1950s, he (with other percussionists) formed the Count Ossie Group. According to reggae historian Bruno Blum, the Rasta "nyabinghi" style of hand drumming, which derives from Jamaican kumina traditions, has its roots in Bantu traditions from Eastern Congo.[3]
According to the book The First Rasta by Hélène Lee, because of their Rastafarian beliefs Count Ossie and his team were violently rejected from the then anti-Rasta music establishment and outlawed, as most Rastafarians were. It was not until around 1959, when successful dancer Marguerita Mahfood, a Jamaican rumba dancer of Honduran descent who enjoyed their new style and liked to dance to it, demanded that Count Ossie and his group be part of her major Ward Theater show. Vere John Jr. also resisted at first but at Mahfood's insistence had no other choice but to have them on his Opportunity Hour show at the Carib theater. Both shows were successful and opened new doors to Count Ossie and the Wareikas right away.
Their first sound recordings were made after meeting Prince Buster, who produced a Wareikas-backed song by the Folkes Brothers, "Oh Carolina", done at the Jamaican Broadcasting Corporation (JBC) Studios in 1959 (B-side: I Met a Man).
Although both songs were recorded in the then-current style of rhythm and blues widely recorded in the USA as well as Jamaica [4] (not using the ska drum beat created in late 1961 [citation?] by Lloyd Knibb), it does include some early Rasta hand drumming not found on any previous R&B records and is regarded by some music historians as one of the first-ever ska record.[5]
During this period Count Ossie also recorded for producers Harry Mudie and Coxsone Dodd.[6] Several singles as Count Ossie and the Wareikas, including African Shuffle as well as Chubby and Rock a Man Soul with vocal group The Mellow Cats, were produced by Harry Mudie circa 1961 featuring saxophonist Wilton Gaynair and trombonist Rico Rodriguez, and were released on the Jamaican label Moodies at the time (some were licensed to Emil Shalit's U.K. label Blue Beat and released in England in the early 1960s). Count Ossie later formed a group called The Mystic Revelation of Rastafari and recorded a few singles, including a cover of Miriam Makeba's Pata Pata in 1967.[citation needed]
Several Jamaican artists also used Ossie's group as percussionists for their own ska and reggae recordings, such as a couple of King Stitt singles including Be a Man (Studio One) circa 1969.[citation needed]
Count Ossie issued two outstanding albums at the end of his lifetime and inspired several later Rastafarian drumming groups, including Ras Michael and the Sons of Negus, who recorded with Bob Marley. Count Ossie's masterpiece is the Grounation three-LP set (1973), which includes songs such as "So Long", and "Grounation" (the latter title with over 30 minutes running time) and an updated version of "Oh Carolina".
Two years later the fine Tales Of Mozambique (Dynamic 1975) was issued, continuing the legacy of the first album.
Count Ossie died in a road accident on 18 October 1976, aged 50.[7] His group, The Mystic Revelation of Rastafari, lived on, toured and recorded a few albums into the 1990s.[citation needed]
Discography[edit]
Grounation (Ashanti 1973)
Tales Of Mozambique (1975)
Man From Higher Heights (1983)
Remembering Count Ossie: A Rasta Reggae Legend (Moodies 1996)
References[edit]
^ Jump up to: a b Moskowitz, David V. (2006) Caribbean Popular Music: an Encyclopedia of Reggae, Mento, Ska, Rocksteady, and Dancehall, Greenwood Press, ISBN 0-313-33158-8, p. 317-8
Jump up ^ Cooke, Mel (2009) "Musical tribute to Count Ossie 33 years after death Archived 27 October 2009 at the Wayback Machine.", Jamaica Gleaner, 15 October 2009, retrieved 2010-07-18
Jump up ^ Read the Jamaica - Folk-Trance-Possession, Mystic Music from Jamaica - Roots of Rastafari 1939-1961 booklet — scroll down to find the English text: http://www.fremeaux.com/index.php?option=com_virtuemart&page=shop.livrets&content_id=7375&product_id=1437&category_id=128
Jump up ^ Read the Jamaica-USA - Roots of Ska booklet — scroll down to find the English text: http://www.fremeaux.com/index.php?option=com_virtuemart&page=shop.livrets&content_id=7466&product_id=1471&category_id=128
Jump up ^ Both Oh Carolina and I Met a Man are included on the album Jamaica Rhythm and Blues 1956-1961 — scroll down to read the English version of their story: http://www.fremeaux.com/index.php?option=com_virtuemart&page=shop.livrets&content_id=6817&product_id=1353&category_id=128
Jump up ^ "COUNT OSSIE (1928 - 1976)", National Library of Jamaica, retrieved 2014-07-25
Jump up ^ "History destroyed - News". Jamaica Observer. Retrieved 26 March 2016.
External links[edit]
Biography at niceup.com
Count Ossie at Roots Archives
Authority control
WorldCat Identities
VIAF: 27276196
LCCN: no97029104
ISNI: 0000 0000 5489 547X
GND: 1069388319
BNF: cb14166944p (data)
MusicBrainz: 217e2df6-61be-4ff5-b62c-4c8642d396c5
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Count_Ossie&oldid=795347510"
Categories:
1926 births
1976 deaths
Djembe players
Performers of Rastafarian music
Jamaican reggae musicians
Jamaican Rastafarians
People from Saint Thomas Parish, Jamaica
Trojan Records artists
Master drummers
Road incident deaths in Jamaica
20th-century drummers
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