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

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Answer 1 · 2016-11-05T08:08:21

Somewhere between $1276$ and $1486$ seconds.

Currently (2016-11-05) $1433$ seconds.

Ceres distance from the sun varies between $3.8262 xx 10^11 "m"$ at perihelion and $4.4541 xx 10^11 "m"$ at aphelion.

As I write, it is at about $4.297 xx 10^11 "m"$

The speed of light in vacuum is $2.99792458 xx 10^8 "ms"^(-1)$

So at perihelion it would take:

$(3.8262 xx 10^11) / (2.99792458 xx 10^8) ~~ 1276$ seconds

and at aphelion it would take:

$(4.4541 xx 10^11) / (2.99792458 xx 10^8) ~~ 1486$ seconds

At this time of writing it would take:

$(4.297 xx 10^11) / (2.99792458 xx 10^8) ~~ 1433$ seconds