This Is The Distance Between The Powerful Sun And Wyoming

Science was never my strong point, but I understand how fast and far that light and sound travel. Until recently, I'd never really thought about the distance and brightness of the sun, and it's incredible.

Have you ever wondered how long it would take for us to notice if the sun suddenly stopped shining?

Can you imagine if you looked up into the Wyoming sky at 2pm and the sun just all of a sudden stopped shining? That would be weird, wouldn't it? I'm not trying to start a wild rumor or increase panic, but if the sun did stop shining, Wyoming wouldn't know about it right away.

The Sun is about 93 million miles (149.6 million kilometers) away from Earth. Light travels at a speed of about 186,000 miles per second (299,792 kilometers per second). So, it takes about 8 minutes and 20 seconds for light to travel from the Sun to Earth.

If the Sun were to suddenly disappear, we would not notice it immediately because the last light it emitted would still be traveling to Earth for that 8 minutes and 20 seconds. During that time, we would still see the Sun in the sky and experience its warmth as if nothing had happened. Only after that time would we notice the Sun's disappearance.

It's absolutely insane to think it would take 8 minutes and 20 seconds for us to know that someone needs to change the lightbulb in the sun.