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A light year, also light-year, abbreviated ly, is the distance light travels in one year. 3.26 light years make up a parsec, which was a unit of distance that was important in locating star systems in the known galaxy.[1]
Since the Galactic Standard Calendar used a year of 368 days, the length of a Galactic Standard Light Year would have been 9,531,961,160,601,600 meters.
Behind the scenes
This assumes that the "Galactic Standard" Day, Hour, etc. and Meter are equal to Earth's. The Galactic light year was 0.75% longer than an Earth based light year.
It is also possible that Galactic days (and hours etc.) were 0.75% shorter than their Earth equivalents, and that the light years are the same length. (see below)
The exact length of a light year depends on the exact length used for one “year”. On Earth The IAU uses a Julian year of 365.25 days, while other sources may use a Gregorian year of 365.2425 days, or another year altogether.
| Source | year (days) | light year (meter) | light year (miles) |
|---|---|---|---|
| IAU | 365.25 | 9,460,730,472,580,800 | 5,878,625,373,184 |
| Gregorian | 365.2425 | 9,460,536,207,068,020 | 5,878,504,662,190 |
| 365.242199 | 9.460 528 4 ×1015 | 5.878 499 81 ×1012 | |
| Yahoo | 365.2411‡ | 9.460 5 ×1015 | 5,878,482,164,161 |
| Coruscant | 368 | 9,531,961,160,601,600 | 5,922,886,070,723 |
‡ Note that while Yahoo separately reports a year length of 365.24220 days, its rounding of the light year length to five digits, works out to a year length of ~365.2411 days.
Appearances
- Star Wars: The Old Republic (Mentioned only)
- Star Wars: The Old Republic: Rise of the Hutt Cartel (Mentioned only)
- Knight Errant
- Death Star
- Star Wars 7: New Planets, New Perils (First appearance)
- Star Wars 38: Riders in the Void
- Star Wars 39: The Empire Strikes Back: Beginning (Mentioned only)
- Star Wars 41: The Empire Strikes Back: Imperial Pursuit (Mentioned only)
- Star Wars 50: The Crimson Forever (Mentioned only)
- Star Wars: Invasion of Theed Adventure Game
- Under a Black Sun
"Tales of the Smoking Blaster" — Star Wars Gamemaster Handbook- Shadows of the Empire novel (Mentioned only)
- Shadows of the Empire audio book (Mentioned only)
- Shadows of the Empire junior novelization (Mentioned only)
Sources
- Galaxy Guide 5: Return of the Jedi (As "light-year")
- Dark Empire Sourcebook
- Shadows of the Empire Sourcebook
- Shadows of the Empire Planets Guide
- "Space Vegas! The History of the Marvelous Wheel, Part 1 {{{3}}}" — {{{4}}} — [[{{{5}}}|{{{5}}}'s]] StarWars.com Blog (Space Vegas! The History of the Marvelous Wheel, Part 1 backup link (2013/09/26/viva-space-vegas-the-history-of-the-marvelous-wheel-part-1//Viva Space Vegas! The History of the Marvelous Wheel, Part 1) not verified!)
- Star Wars Galaxies: The Total Experience: Prima Official Game Guide
- Secrets of Tatooine
- The Dark Side Sourcebook
- The New Jedi Order Sourcebook
- Star Wars Roleplaying Game Revised Core Rulebook
- Coruscant and the Core Worlds
- Geonosis and the Outer Rim Worlds
- Star Wars Roleplaying Game Saga Edition Core Rulebook
- The Unknown Regions
- Star Wars: Edge of the Empire Core Rulebook
- Enter the Unknown
- Suns of Fortune
- The Essential Guide to Characters
- The Essential Guide to Planets and Moons
- The Essential Chronology
- The Essential Guide to Alien Species
- The New Essential Guide to Characters
- The New Essential Chronology
- The New Essential Guide to Droids
- The Essential Atlas
- The Jedi Path: A Manual for Students of the Force
- The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia
