Speed of light the "local" speed of light is constant and equal to "c", but the speed of light along a trajectory of finite length can differ from "c", depending on how distances and times are defined. It is generally assumed that fundamental constants such as "c" have the same value throughout spacetime, meaning that they do not depend on location and do not vary with time. However, it has been suggested in various theories that the speed of light may have changed over time. No conclusive evidence for such changes has been found, but they remain the subject of ongoing research. It
Speed of light the closest star to Earth after the Sun, is around 4.2 light-years away. Radar systems measure the distance to a target by the time it takes a radio-wave pulse to return to the radar antenna after being reflected by the target: the distance to the target is half the round-trip transit time multiplied by the speed of light. A Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver measures its distance to GPS satellites based on how long it takes for a radio signal to arrive from each satellite, and from these distances calculates the receiver's position. Because light travels about () in one