The light-year mail service
20 minutes · Paper · Pencil
Your investigation
- Imagine three stars at distances of 4, 10, and 25 light-years. Draw each with a mailbox labeled Earth.
- Write how many years each light message takes to arrive in this simplified example.
- Choose one star and draw an event there beside the later arrival of its light at Earth.
- Write one sentence that uses “year” for time and “light-year” for distance correctly.
Think, draw, explain
Which message has traveled longest?
Can a light-year measure the length of a birthday party?
Grown-up guide & possible answers
- The message from 25 light-years away travels for about 25 years; the others take about 4 and 10 years.
- No. A light-year is distance. This simple activity ignores cosmic expansion and is intended for nearby-star distance reasoning.