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How long would it take light from the sun to reach Mercury?

Answer 1

Ariana Acosta

From perihelion to aphelion, it ranges from 2 m 33 s to 3 m 53 s,

Mercury's orbit is extremely eccentric. Its eccentricity is

roughly twelve times that of Earth

299192.458 km is the light second.

From NASA's Planetary Fact Sheet

69.8 million km is the apogelion.

Sunlight reaches its aphelion, or furthest point from the Sun.

#69.8 X 10 ^6/299792 s#

= 233 s to almost get to Mercury.

At 46.0 million km, the perihelion, when closest,

The duration is

#46 X 10^5 / 299792 s#

= 153 seconds.

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Answer 2

Hunter Arthur

It takes approximately 3.2 minutes for light from the Sun to reach Mercury.

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Answer from HIX Tutor

When evaluating a one-sided limit, you need to be careful when a quantity is approaching zero since its sign is different depending on which way it is approaching zero from. Let us look at some examples.