3 ms·
What’s really bizarre is from what I understand is those photons spend something between 10,000 and 170,000 years bouncing around colliding with stuff inside th
by wincy 4y ago
What’s really bizarre is from what I understand is those photons spend something between 10,000 and 170,000 years bouncing around colliding with stuff inside the sun. From there it takes a mere 8 minutes to get to earth. [0]
[0] http://www.astronoo.com/en/articles/journey-of-the-photon.html http://www.astronoo.com/en/articles/journey-of-the-photon.ht...
- dotancohen 4y agoAnd then over 2,000,000 additional minutes to pass the nearest photon-emitting (as opposed to reflecting) object in the best case.
- vikingerik 4y agoTechnical nitpick (but HN loves these) - the gas and ice giant planets do emit photons, in the infrared, where the energy comes from gravitational compression. Neptune in particular emits 2.4x as much energy as it receives from the sun.
- marcosdumay 4y agoFor the photons, any travel is instantaneous, and the Earth is just at the side of the Sun.