As of today we have no engine or rocket that would be able to traverse our own solar system, much less our galaxy. 1 light year is a speed of 180k and change MILE per SECOND. That being said, your own galaxy, the Milky Way would take approximately 120,000 light years to cross. So, as we stand we are stuck travel wise speaking in terms of interstellar or intergalactic in a lifetime. The most feasible and probable concept out there is being able to accelerate to 1 G, 9.8 m/s, same as you know it here. Your destination say if going 10 light years away, would consist of accelerating to 1 G for the first 5 and then decelerating for the second half to arrive at your destination. In our first fact we will use a distance of say going to Jupiter:
**The difference between if you decelerate or not is if this is your destination or a just a beautiful view in passing.
Closest to Earth: 588 million km
Travel time (at 9.80665 m/s2, no deceleration): 4d 0h 11m 2s
Travel time (at 9.80665 m/s2, decelerating halfway): 5d 16h 2m 2s
Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Gerald Eichstädt
But, here’s where the catch 22 so to speak comes in. If we are to truely want to do interstellar vs just inter planetary, you will be giving up your life in just about all occasions. That’s becuase you now are going to be apart of whats known as time under the Theory of Special Relitivity. So, interstellar travel at 1G would take approximately 1 year + the distance in lightyears to our closest star, Alpha Centauri.
First, assume 1g acceleration from Earth halfway to Alpha Centauri and then 1g deceleration from there to the target. Total distance: 4.3 light-years. Due to time falling under the laws of special relativity the difference in time measured aboard the space craft vs home on earth is this:
Ship time: 3.6 years
Earth time: 5.9 years
Image credit: NASA/Penn State University
http://www.eso.org/public/images/colosimo-130704-011
As you may think and problably are, the longer the ship travels round trip, the longer the time gap grows between those traveling and those at home. Lets take another example, this time, a 20-year round trip for the space craft (5 years accelerating, 5 decelerating, to the destination and then back home) will land the ship back on Earth having travelled for 335 Earth years and a distance of 331 light years............a difference of 315 years people. You are not even guaranteed to return to an Earth that habitable, or even still there. Even society itself could have collapsed and found Earth in almost a dark ages again if you will. That’s neither here nor there tough, there are infinite what ifs, but one thing stands constant, your life you left behind, will no longer exhist. Your family, your friends even the enviroment in which you departed from will most certainly be gone and will be different. So you may travel and safely return, but whether you return or not, you still have lost a life once had. This is just interstellar travel may I add, not galactic travel.....As humans, if we find ourselves holding such technology in the future, we will again become a nomadic species. Traveling to great distances to expand our reach. We as humans, all of us, come from nomadic people, its just where and when we laid down roots if you will. We could actually reach another galaxy traveling at 1G within a human life time, our closest neighbor, The Andromeda Galaxy. To reach it going 1G would take about 60 years aboard the space craft, but as time on Earth ticks, 5 million years will have surpassed..........5. million. years. Those who chose this path will be the ones who carry on our species. The ones who not only represent it, but maintain, nurture and grow it, because Im really not thinking the Earth, or at least our species on Earth will be all aces. Mostly likely, our species we will cease to exist anywhere except for those traveling abroad. So I will leave your with this, if we do indeed find ourselves confronted with this situation during humans time on Earth, the crafts that we sent out abroad to the explore unknown and answer timeless questions, ships first launched interstellar starting mans adventure and exploration of such may actually be carrying out two missions. The first is certainly whats aforementioned, but throughout the exploration of interstellar travel, thanks to what physics allows us to do such, Special Relativity, actually is a double edged sword an these exploration ships may and will transition also into a life rafts of sorts. The last of our species, hurdling through space and time, hopefully on course with a destiny that will allow us to, well exhist.
A table below will further show you the time vs travel examples.
I upvoted you to transform our Desire to Receive for Ourselves to a Desire to Receive for Others.
Reqlly interesting this makes me think a lot more on what humans can do and what it might take thank you so much for this post it gave me a different understanding on how and what will happend when we travel interstelar and what might be the consequence it may lead to developement but only time will tell makes me wonder if there have been secret missions which tested humans to travel 100s of years i can only imagine what will they be like returning anyway thanks again! Have a good day
It really is mind boggling man and a sobering reality about us and traveling the vacuum of space, unless there comes about not only something like worm hole that bends space and time over itself to cross great distances in seconds, you would have to knowingly be able to not only create said worm hole but some how mathematically input directions for your specific destination......which im about sure we as a species will never see! Thank you for you comment
Yeah right now we cant but who knows maybe a scientific breaktrough can happend and poof! Another universe here you go😂
Your right and its that simple sometimes....just as with everything there can be creations and information learned that was actually not the goal at hand, but turns out to be better or earth shattering! lol, literally now u see it vs now you don't, vice versa
HahahA
Incredible. What is you opinion on multiversed being real? I believe they are real. In a sense that they developed differently but the isn’t the same copy of myself out there
I have read a bit here and there on it and I truely believe there is something to it being alternate dimensions out there like you are saying. It’s Earth, its a recognizable solar system and such, but each one is minutely or drastically different in the details. It’s a really perplexing thought process.
I think your post is interesting, it is a fact that until now NASA has not been able to verify if there is another nearby habitable galaxy that is close to the earth, I am one of those who believe that this can happen, but you have to check it, greetings from Venezuela , success!!!
Thank you for your comment sir! Well, the James Webb Telescope will be launched in 2019 and it will be like taking the hubble telescope from old school SD format TV to 4K HD. It will be astonishing no only what else we can see but the new clarity of what we already have! Cheers success too you!
The things that you are saying are the ones that intrigues me the most, i don't understand how time works and that is a kind facinating. Well it's amazing to think that maybe in the future we really keep our species traveling in space. Great post
Thank you or your read. Yeah when you get into quantum mechanics it can get really heavy really fast! Just check out interstellar travel and or theory of special relativity the Einstein came up with. It is the theory that explains why when an object starts traveling closer and closer to the speed of light it will never actually achieve the speed of light but it will start to cause time dilation. General relativity pretty much states we are moving in the same direction at the same time. An object in motion experiences time dilation, meaning that time moves more slowly when one is moving, than when one is standing still. Therefore, a person moving ages more slowly than a person at rest.
Thanks for answering :)
I was reading about all this and I even had the opportunity to see two series (which are documentaries), which really helped me to understand a little more (because sometimes reading is complicated by the fact of having many physical terms that I do not understand 100 %), the first '' Cosmos: a space-time odyssey '' and the second '' Genius '' (is the biography of Einstein). Now I know that many things in space are extraordinary and every time I read about time or gravity, I want to know more and more. Thanks again for all the information.
You are absolutely welcome. I love documentaries myself, because like you just said, when reading things of this nature you can get lost in the translation and become overwhelmed, either losing interest or misunderstanding the content. Watching series is a fantastic way to be able to gestate the material. Here in the states we have a series called How the universe works that is pretty amazing and nicely done.
It is very interesting! The huge distances is something that just gets my thinking every night when I am looking at the stars in the sky. Thinking how small we are in this tiny planet is just amazing.
You should post using the #steemstem tag. So, head to @steemstem to read the guidelines and follow some examples for the community! We will be happy to have another science poster among us!
Thank you, heading over there now. Think you for reading it and inviting me over. Id be happy too.
Yeah, our minds feel like they are not made to process some of the information we are presented in our lives.
Hi, I found some acronyms/abbreviations in this post. This is how they expand:
What a planet?
What are you asking about @stelwok, dont quite understand but will be happy to explain if you elaborate.
I see there are pictures of planet and rotation in your blog, what is the picture of planet?
Oh sorry friend, thats one of the latest pics of Jupiter the Juno Space satellite has taken via NASA.
Jupiter evolved?
Lol
This guy gets it
No no, it was just the first distance I used to show the time difference or how fast your could get to or pass by Jupiter going 1G. The point of the article is the time gap and growth of that gap due to the Theory of relativity when traveling out of our solar system interstellar.
Is it just a manipulation that will be raised and investigated further?
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STOPBeautiful picture
I find it amazing that Voyager 2 has made it to interstellar space 13 billion miles away from earth! Great article
Very detailed and informative.