Earth-like planets may be next door. That's according to a news story. There might be one as close as 13 light years away.
For those that don't understand that distance: light travels at 186,000 miles per second. A light year is the distance light travels in a year. That's roughly 186,000 x 60 x 60 x 24 x 365.24, which is a large sum and when you multiply that times 13, it get's even larger. Considering current technology, the amount of time to cover that distance at our snail like 11 miles per second, which is the speed of Voyager 1, after some gravitational assists, the trip will only take about 220,000 years. We'll probably have to bring a lunch and some spare oxygen.
That's not next door, although in astronomical distances, it's like the tip of your nose.
Are you saying I have a big nose?
ReplyDeleteObservable distances are mind boggling. With the naked eye, the hazy patch of the Andromeda Galaxy is a notable feature on a clear night, with low light pollution. It's about 2 million light years away. We're seeing what happened two million years ago.
ReplyDeleteOn a really clear night, the apparent size of the Andromeda galaxy is about the size of the full moon. Since the light is so dim, most people don't even notice it.