Active Now

Element 99
Discussion » Questions » Science and Technology » Did you know that theoretically speaking, it'd take the Voyagers 80,000 years to reach Alpha Centauri?
MathematicallyMindedFractal

Did you know that theoretically speaking, it'd take the Voyagers 80,000 years to reach Alpha Centauri?

The star system, that is. Also if they were heading in that direction, which they are not. Still though. It's moving at a rate of about 17 kilometers per second. It's among the fastest manmade objects. Not counting for the fact we're traveling at 220 km/s around Sagittarius A* (black hole at the center of our galaxy), and everything on earth as well. You know what I mean :P

You can go ahead and post all of your politics crap. Politics are important but y'all are still taking this circus too seriously, so I'm spamming some science to settle the scales with some seriousness :P

Posted - October 12, 2016
Tags : space spacecraft voyager probe

Responses


  • 5835
    It's hard to imagine the immensity of space. Here is an example to give you an idea just how far apart things are.

    The distance from earth to sun is called an astronomical unit, AU. It happens that the number of AU in a light year is nearly equal to the number of inches in a mile. Imagine the earth to be one inch away from the sun. At this scale the sun is less than one hundredth inch wide, just a speck of dust. The entire solar system would fit within a man's outstretched arms. The nearest star is another speck of dust FOUR MILES away.
      October 12, 2016 12:11 PM MDT
    0

  • 127
    I'm well aware of what an AU is and of the scale of the universe is, but I didn't know that interesting conversion factor tidbit :D
      October 12, 2016 1:24 PM MDT
    0

  • 85

    Yes, it is a long way to Centauri. We just have to find a way of traveling faster.

    The size of the Milky Way is unimaginable; the size of the observable universe beyond comprehension.

    You probably know this picture but for those who haven’t seen it, it shows Earth’s Radio Bubble expanding at the speed of light.

    The first radio transmissions in the 1890s make the radio bubble just over 200 light years in diameter. The tiny, little blue speck represents that bubble.

      October 13, 2016 4:12 AM MDT
    0