Sherry Watkins  , age 10,of Des Moines; Iowa, for her question:

How many light years away is the sun?

A light year is equal to about six million, million miles ‑ and the sun is only about 92 million miles from the earth  This is but a small fraction of a light year, However, a light year is figured on the basis of the speed of light ‑ about 186,000 miles a second  and we can use the same measuring rod to figure the distance of the sun 

A light second is 186,000 miles ‑ the distance light travels in a second  A light minute is a little more than 11 million miles ‑ the distance light travels in a minute  The sun, then, is about eight and one‑third light minutes from the earth, which means that every sunbeam takes dust over eight minutes to travel to the earth from the sun