Light Year to Centimeter Converter

About this conversion

The light-year (ly) is a unit of length in the astronomical, commonly used for distances to nearby stars and sizes of galaxies. The centimeter (cm) belongs to the metric (SI) and is typically found in measurements related to clothing and shoe sizes and human height and body measurements. By definition, one light-year is the distance light travels in one Julian year in a vacuum, approximately 9.461 × 10¹⁵ meters. One centimeter is one hundredth of a meter (0.01 m). The conversion factor between these two units is 946070000000000000: multiplying any value in ly by this number gives the equivalent in cm. For example, 10 ly equals 9460700000000000000.0000 cm. Going the other direction, 1 cm equals 0 ly. The centimeter has been part of the metric system since its adoption in France in the late 18th century.