If the Sun vanished right now, Earth would go dark eight minutes later — but if its sound could cross space at the speed it travels through air, the Sun’s final roar would continue reaching us for nearly 14 years, because light travels 874,000 times faster.
If the Sun could disappear in a physically impossible instant, the Earth would not notice it immediately. The last rays of the sun would continue to arrive already in flight. Only after those final photons crossed the gap between the Sun and Earth would the illuminated side of our planet lose direct sunlight. The familiar … Read more
