Table of Contents
- 1 How far have we sent probes into space?
- 2 How long will it take Voyager 1 to reach the nearest galaxy to the solar system Andromeda galaxy 2.5 million light years from Earth?
- 3 What is the farthest distance we have traveled in space?
- 4 How long does it take to get to Pluto?
- 5 How far away from Earth is the center of the Milky Way galaxy?
- 6 How far did Voyager Travel?
- 7 How close can a spacecraft get to the Sun?
- 8 How fast does the Parker Solar Probe travel?
How far have we sent probes into space?
How Far Have We Gone into Space?
| Probe Name | Year of Launch | Distance into Space |
|---|---|---|
| Pioneer 11 | 1973 | 100 AU |
| Voyager 2 | 1977 | 122 AU* |
| Voyager 1 | 1977 | 147 AU* |
| New Horizons | 2006 | 43 AU* |
How long will it take Voyager 1 to reach the nearest galaxy to the solar system Andromeda galaxy 2.5 million light years from Earth?
To get to the closest galaxy to ours, the Canis Major Dwarf, at Voyager’s speed, it would take approximately 749,000,000 years to travel the distance of 25,000 light years! If we could travel at the speed of light, it would still take 25,000 years!
Have we sent probes out of the Milky Way?
There are five interstellar probes, all launched by the American space agency NASA: Voyager 1, Voyager 2, Pioneer 10, Pioneer 11 and New Horizons. As of 2019, Voyager 1, Voyager 2 and Pioneer 10 are the only probes to have actually reached interstellar space. The other two are on interstellar trajectories.
What is the farthest thing we have sent into space?
Voyager 1
Voyager 1, launched from Earth in 1977, is currently 14 billion miles away, making it the most distant human-made object.
What is the farthest distance we have traveled in space?
The record for the farthest distance that humans have traveled goes to the all-American crew of famous Apollo 13 who were 400,171 kilometers (248,655 miles) away from Earth on April 14, 1970. This record has stood untouched for over 50 years!
How long does it take to get to Pluto?
The $720 million New Horizons mission launched in January 2006, speeding away from Earth at a record-breaking 36,400 mph (58,580 km/h). Even at that blistering pace, it still took the probe 9.5 years to reach Pluto, which was about 3 billion miles (5 billion km) from Earth on the day of the flyby.
How long would it take to Andromeda?
How long would it take to get to the Andromeda Galaxy? Forget it! Although it may be one of the closest galaxies to our own, since the Andromeda Galaxy is 2.5 million light years distant it would take 2.5 million years to get there if (and it’s a huge ‘if’) we could travel at the speed of light.
Where is the Voyager 1 now 2021?
As of November 4, 2021, Voyager 1 is believed to be more than 14.4 billion miles from Earth, NASA reports.
How far away from Earth is the center of the Milky Way galaxy?
25,800 light-years
The new map suggests that the center of the Milky Way, and the black hole which sits there, is located 25,800 light-years from Earth. This is closer than the official value of 27,700 light-years adopted by the International Astronomical Union in 1985.
How far did Voyager Travel?
That’s roughly 13.2 billion miles, or 21.2 billion kilometers. You can look at its current distance on this NASA website. Since flying past the solar system’s boundary into interstellar space, Voyager 1 sent back valuable information about conditions in this zone of the universe.
How can we tell how far away a galaxy is?
For very nearby galaxies, like Andromeda, this works pretty well. The amount by which we need to shift the other galaxy’s globular cluster histogram in brightness to make it match our Milky Way’s tells us how far away it is (relative to the Milky Way). But for really distant galaxies, we can only see the very bright globular clusters:
Why is the distance to other galaxies so uncertain?
All of our measurements of distant galaxies depend upon the distance to the LMC, which is used as a stepping-stone. So, if our distance to the LMC is uncertain by 10\%, then every single distance to another galaxy will be uncertain by at least 10\%.
How close can a spacecraft get to the Sun?
That may sound pretty far, but think of it this way: If you put Earth and the Sun on opposite ends of an American football field, Parker Solar Probe would get within four yards of the Sun’s end zone. The current record-holder was a spacecraft called Helios 2, which came within 27 million miles, or about the 30 yard line.
How fast does the Parker Solar Probe travel?
Faster than any human-made object Parker Solar Probe will also break the record for the fastest spacecraft in history. On its final orbits, closest to the Sun, the spacecraft will reach speeds up to 430,000 mph. That’s fast enough to travel from New York to Tokyo in less than a minute!