# Miles to Light-years (mi to ly) Source: https://www.unitconvertercalculator.com/length/miles-to-light-years/ **1 mi = 1.7010779502325E-13 ly** One mile equals approximately 1.701 x 10-13 light-years. A light-year contains about 5.879 trillion miles. This is the conversion Americans use most when trying to comprehend interstellar distances. ## Formula Convert Miles to Light-years ## Conversion Table | Miles (mi) | Light-years (ly) | |---|---| | 1 mi | 1.7010779E-13 ly | | 10 mi | 1.70107795E-12 ly | | 100 mi | 1.70107795E-11 ly | | 1000 mi | 1.7010779502E-10 ly | | 10000 mi | 1.70107795023E-9 ly | | 100000 mi | 1.701077950232E-8 ly | | 1000000 mi | 1.7010779502325E-7 ly | | 10000000 mi | 1.7010779502325E-6 ly | | 100000000 mi | 1.7010779502325E-5 ly | | 1000000000 mi | 0.00017010779502325 ly | | 5878792849758 mi | 1.0000284890708 ly | ## Units ### Mile (mi) An imperial unit of length equal to 5,280 feet or approximately 1.609 kilometers. The standard unit for road distances in the US and UK. ### Light-year (ly) The distance light travels in one Julian year (365.25 days) in vacuum. Exactly 9,460,730,472,580,800 meters. Used for interstellar distances. ## Background The nearest star is about 24.9 trillion miles (4.24 light-years). Light travels 186,282 miles per second. The Sun is 93 million miles away. A light-year (5.88 trillion miles) is about 63,241 trips to the Sun. ## Good to Know Americans learn that the nearest star is '25 trillion miles away.' This number is so large that it prompted the invention of the light-year: a unit designed to make incomprehensible distances slightly less incomprehensible. The light-year exists because trillions of miles broke human intuition. ## FAQ ### How many light-years is 1 mile? One mile equals approximately 1.701 x 10-13 light-years. ### How many miles are in 1 light-year? One light-year contains approximately 5.879 x 1012 miles (about 5.88 trillion). ### How fast does light travel in miles? About 186,282 miles per second, or about 670.6 million miles per hour. ## Non-Frequently Asked Questions ### How many road trips to the Moon equal 1 light-year? Moon distance: 238,855 miles. Light-year: 5.879 trillion miles. That is about 24.6 million round trips to the Moon. If you drove to the Moon and back every day, it would take 33,800 years to cover 1 light-year. The Moon is close. Stars are not. ### What is the speed of light in mph? About 670,616,629 mph. The speed limit on most US highways is 65 mph. Light is about 10.3 million times faster than highway traffic. Light does not get stuck in traffic. Light does not need to merge. ### If all the miles ever driven by all humans were added up, would it reach a star? Humanity has driven roughly 100 trillion miles total in the history of cars. One light-year is 5.88 trillion miles. So all human driving equals about 17 light-years - enough to reach several nearby stars including Barnard's Star. Collectively, humanity has driven to the stars. Just not in the same direction. ## Related Articles - [Why We Measure: The Deepest Urge in Human Civilisation](https://www.unitconvertercalculator.com/blog/why-we-measure) - [The Map Is Not the Territory: Why Every Measurement Is Wrong](https://www.unitconvertercalculator.com/blog/the-map-is-not-the-territory) - [Zero: The Most Dangerous Number in Measurement](https://www.unitconvertercalculator.com/blog/zero-the-most-dangerous-number-in-measurement) - [The Body as a Ruler: Every Measurement Unit That Came From Us](https://www.unitconvertercalculator.com/blog/the-body-as-a-ruler) - [The Speed of Everything: How We Measure From Glaciers to Light](https://www.unitconvertercalculator.com/blog/the-speed-of-everything) - [15 Obscure Measurement Units You've Never Heard Of (But Still Need)](https://www.unitconvertercalculator.com/blog/obscure-measurement-units-guide) - [When Measurements Go Wrong - Disasters, Blunders and Happy Accidents](https://www.unitconvertercalculator.com/blog/when-measurements-go-wrong) - [The Surprising Stories Behind Everyday Units of Measurement](https://www.unitconvertercalculator.com/blog/stories-behind-measurement-units) - [Metric vs. Imperial - The Complete Guide to the World's Two Measurement Systems](https://www.unitconvertercalculator.com/blog/metric-vs-imperial-complete-guide) - [Length & Distance Conversion Guide - Meters, Feet, Miles & Kilometers](https://www.unitconvertercalculator.com/blog/length-and-distance-guide) ## See Also - [Light-years to Miles](https://www.unitconvertercalculator.com/length/light-years-to-miles/)