Travel time at the speed of light

Light in a vacuum travels 299,792,458 meters, or 186,000 miles, per second. At this rate, it would take approximately 1.2 seconds to get to the moon, 8.5 minutes to get to the sun, and 4.2 years to get to Alpha Centauri, our nearest star. According to Einstein's Theory of Relativity, nothing in our universe can exceed the velocity of light; thus, it is a kind of cosmic speed limit against which all other velocities may be measured. More generally, light is part of what is called the electromagnetic spectrum, which includes infrared radiation, radio waves, gamma rays, X-rays, ultraviolet radiation, and so on. All of these are a form of light, and travel at light speed; they just have energies that differ from the visible light that our eyes can see.