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Sunlight journey

Follow a ray of light past all eight planets.

LIGHT TRAVEL

Sun → Neptune

Simulated elapsed time0 min 0 s299,792.458 km / s

SunSUN

Mercury0.39 AU

Venus0.72 AU

Earth1.00 AU

Mars1.52 AU

Jupiter5.20 AU

Saturn9.58 AU

Uranus19.20 AU

Neptune30.05 AU

Follow light

Distance zoom4×

Time speed1×

Time for sunlight to reach each planet

MercuryMERCURY

3 min 13 s

0.58 × 100 million km 0.39 AU

VenusVENUS

6 min 0 s

1.08 × 100 million km 0.72 AU

EarthEARTH

8 min 19 s

1.50 × 100 million km 1.00 AU

MarsMARS

12 min 40 s

2.28 × 100 million km 1.52 AU

JupiterJUPITER

43 min 17 s

7.79 × 100 million km 5.20 AU

SaturnSATURN

1 h 19 min 41 s

14.34 × 100 million km 9.58 AU

UranusURANUS

2 h 39 min 41 s

28.73 × 100 million km 19.20 AU

NeptuneNEPTUNE

4 h 9 min 54 s

44.95 × 100 million km 30.05 AU

Mean orbital distance model. At 1×: about 4 h 10 min; at 256×: about 59 s.

How it works +

Time = mean distance from the Sun ÷ speed of light in vacuum (299,792.458 km/s). Distances use a linear scale; bodies are enlarged. The alignment does not show current orbital positions.

Distance data:NASA / JPL ↗. 1 AU = 149,597,870.7 km. Travel of energy inside the Sun is excluded.