• Question: how long will it take a spacecraft to reach the nearest galaxy?

    Asked by padsy to Chris, Hayley, Jimi, Maddison, Omur on 15 Mar 2016.
    • Photo: Jimi Wills

      Jimi Wills answered on 15 Mar 2016:

      Our nearest galaxy (Andromeda) is about 2.5 million light years away. So if the spacecraft went at the speed of light, it would take 2.5 million years to get there.

      But, from what we understand of physics, it’s not possible to travel at the speed of light.

      The fastest spacecraft we’ve made is New Horizons (N.H.), which is travelling at 15,730 meters per second. The speed of light is 299,792,458 meters per second. So N.H. is 299,792,458/15,730 = 19,000 times slower than the speed of light, so it will take 19,000 timjes longer to get there than light does.

      So that’s 19,000 x 2.5 million years = 47.5 trillion years!!

    • Photo: Omur Tastan

      Omur Tastan answered on 16 Mar 2016:

      Unless we have some sort of breakthrough, it will take a long time to get there! 🙁 Sad… Saying that, nothing happens just like that. We keep working at it, and in 50 years time, everyone might be able to travel to space, live there…you never know…:)

    • Photo: Hayley Moulding

      Hayley Moulding answered on 17 Mar 2016:

      A really really really long time. Longer than the Earth will still be around for! WOAH!

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