What Is a Light-Year? It’s a Distance, Not a Time

A light-year sounds like a measure of time, but it isn't. It's one of the largest rulers in science — and it lets us look billions of years into the past.

A light-year sounds like a measure of time, but it isn't. It's one of the largest rulers in science — and it lets us look billions of years into the past.

Mars glows red in the night sky for a reason that's surprisingly ordinary: it's covered in rust. Here's the simple science behind the Red Planet's colour.