3 ms·

> photos created at the Sun's core take ~30,000 years to escape I’m guessing you meant photons but this still seems amazing. Is there somewhere I can find out

• whimsicalism 5y ago
  It's not really "the same" photon though.
  • deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
• cletus 5y ago
  So this is based on mathematical modeling. Here's one reference I found [1] that estimates 5,000 years. I know I've heard 30,000 too, which is really within the same order of magnitude. [1]: https://sciencing.com/fun-sun-moon-stars-8459789.html https://sciencing.com/fun-sun-moon-stars-8459789.html
  • jhgb 5y ago
    When I was younger (like three decades ago), the number I was taught was something like two million years (if I remember it correctly; I might still be able to find that book if I'm lucky).
    • truculent 5y ago
      To add to the confusion, I vaguely recall a number of around 125,000 years. I think it was either from "A Brief History of Time" or Jeff Forshaw's "Why Does E=mc2?".
      • neltnerb 5y ago
        carbon dating is really unreliable on photons.
• jhgb 5y ago
  It's like a random walk, basically. Now realize that the photon has something like 700000 kilometers to go and a mean free path in the core in the range of one millimeter or so and it's kind of obvious that this will necessarily take some time.