One light-year is approximately 9.461 trillion kilometers, which is 9,461,000,000,000,000 meters. Therefore, 5 light-years equals 47,305,000,000,000,000 meters.

Light-years are used because the distances to stars and galaxies are so vast that using meters would result in extremely large and unwieldy numbers. Light-years provide a more manageable unit for these cosmic scales.

While 5 light-years is 47,305,000,000,000,000 meters, it's also the distance light travels in 5 years. This is still an incomprehensibly large distance for everyday human experience.

Yes, to convert meters to light-years, you would divide the distance in meters by the number of meters in one light-year (approximately 9.461 x 10^15 meters).