Darren's Astronomy Page
How far are the planets from the Sun?
Mercury is about 35 million miles from the Sun. 2 months by rocket at 25,000 miles/hr
Venus is about 65 million miles from the Sun. 3.5 months by rocket
Earth's average distance from the Sun is 93 million miles. 5 months by rocket
Mars' average distance from the Sun is about 137 million miles. 7.5 months by rocket
Jupiter's average distance from the Sun is almost 467 million miles. 2 years and 2 months by rocket
Saturn's average distance is over 850 million miles away from the Sun. 4 years by rocket
Uranus' average distance from the Sun is 1.7 billion (1,700,000,000) miles. 8 years by rocket
Neptune is almost 2.7 billion (2,700,000,000) miles away from the center of the solar system. 12.5 years by rocket
Pluto's average distance from the Sun is a little over 3.5 billion (3,500,000,000) miles. 16 years by rocket
| Planets & Galaxies | Time at Light Speed from Earth |
|
|---|---|---|
| Moon | 1.1991888 seconds | |
| Sun | 8.41536 minutes | |
| Mercury | 4.99662 minutes | |
| Venus | 2.5035696 minutes | |
| Mars | 3.997296 minutes | |
| Jupiter | 35.028936 minutes | |
| Saturn | 1.18341 hours | |
| Uranus | 2.49831 hours | |
| Neptune | 4.03236 hours | |
| Pluto | 5.4200178 hours | |
| Alpha Centauri (nearest star) | 4.27 years | |
| Center of Milky Way | 38,000 years | |
| Andromeda Galaxy (nearest galaxy) | 2,200,000 years |
How many miles are
in 1 Light Year?
5,850,000,000,000 miles
(about 6 trillion miles)
How fast can
the Space Shuttle go?
18,000 miles per hour
How long would it take the Space Shuttle
to go 1 Light Year?
37,200 years
How many stars are
in our Galaxy?
200 - 400 billion (400,000,000,000)
How wide is our Galaxy?
100,000 light years in diameter (590,000,000,000,000,000 miles)
300,000 light years in circumference
10,000 light years average thickness, 30,000 at center
How many
Galaxies are in the known Universe?
More than 100 thousand million (100 billion or 1011) galaxies
How many stars are
in the known Universe?
70 thousand million million million (70 sextillion or 7 × 1022) stars
or
10 times the number of grains of sand on all the beaches and deserts (estimate)
What is the nearest star to our sun?
Proxima Centauri, at a distance of 4.3
light years away.
At a speed of 150,000 miles per hour from a passive
slingshot maneuver,
it would take about 17,900 years to reach this star
The closest star system to the Sun is the Alpha Centauri system. Of the three stars in the system, the dimmest -- called Proxima Centauri -- is actually the nearest star. The bright stars Alpha Centauri A and B form a close binary
Proxima Centauri has been suggested as a logical first destination for interstellar travel, although as a flare star it would not be particularly hospitable. The current standard spaceship, the Space Shuttle, travels in orbit at 7.8 km/s. At that speed, it would take 160,000 years to reach Proxima. The fastest man-made spacecraft, the Helios II deep space probe, has set a speed record of 70.2 km/s. Even at that speed, the journey to Proxima Centauri would take 18,000 years. The proposed VASIMR propulsion system, possibly able to achieve speeds up to 300 km/s, would shorten the journey to a "mere" 4,200 years —still firmly beyond the current lifespan of both man and machine. It follows that interstellar travel would require significant development of radical ideas to become feasible, such as hypothetical generation ships, laser-pushed solar sails, nuclear fusion powered Bussard ramjets, nuclear pulse drives or warp drives.
What is the closest
galaxy to the Milky Way?
ANDROMEDA GALAXY
about 2,400,000 light-years from Earth.
(14,000,000,000,000,000,000 Miles)
What is the
largest known star?
Biggest, Brightest Star -- A star that may be the biggest and brightest in the universe dwarfs the sun in this artist’s depiction, drawn to scale to demonstrate the star’s massive size. The star, dubbed LBV 1806-20, is at least 150 times larger and 5 million times brighter than the sun. Located about 45,000 light years from Earth, compared to the ……of the sun, it is detectable only with infrared telescopes, because all of its visible light is absorbed by dust particles in space. If it was located as near to the sun as this image suggests, the star’s light would completely swamp that of the sun, making it invisible and virtually undetectable.
How big is our Universe?
20 - 40 billion Light Years wide
(200,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 miles)
or
156
billion Light Years wide (latest update)
What is the
farthest object we can see?
Quasars at 12 billion Light Years or
Cosmic Microwave Background at 15 billion Light Years
How old is
our Universe?
11 - 14 billion years or
13.7 billion years
How old is
the Earth?
4.5 Billion Years Old
Is Outer
Space made of Nothing?
Yes and No, Space is a vacuum,
but Hydrogen atoms are scattered throughout outer space.
Links
Interactive Solar System
How
big is the Universe?
Light Year
Convert
Light Years to miles
Top 10
Weirdest Things in Space
What is a Vacuum?
Hubble Photo
Gallery
Hubble Deep Field (1996)
Hubble Deep Field South (1998)
Hubble Ultra Deep Field (2004)