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Distance Information The Milky Way is about 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 km (about 100,000 light years or about 30 kpc) across. The Sun does not lie near the center of our Galaxy. It lies about 8 kpc from the center on what is known as the Orion Arm of the Milky Way.
How long would it take to get from one side of the Milky Way to the other?
If you could ride a light beam from one side of the disk to the other, it would take 200,000 years to span the distance. If you could drive across and averaged 60 miles an hour, it would take more than 2 trillion years.
How large is our galaxy?
Our galaxy is a whole lot bigger than it looks. New work finds that the Milky Way stretches nearly 2 million light-years across, more than 15 times wider than its luminous spiral disk.
What is 5000 light years away?
In an unexpected stroke of luck, astronomers have found two planets that resemble smaller versions of Jupiter and Saturn (that’s our Saturn in the picture to the right) in a solar system nearly 5000 light years away from Earth.
How far are we from the galaxy?
The closest known galaxy to us is the Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy, at 236,000,000,000,000,000 km (25,000 light years) from the Sun. The Sagittarius Dwarf Elliptical Galaxy is the next closest , at 662,000,000,000,000,000 km (70,000 light years) from the Sun.
How old is our galaxy?
Most galaxies are between 10 billion and 13.6 billion years old. Our universe is about 13.8 billion years old, so most galaxies formed when the universe was quite young! Astronomers believe that our own Milky Way galaxy is approximately 13.6 billion years old.
How many light years would it take to reach the end of the universe?
The light-travel distance to the edge of the observable universe is the age of the Universe divided by the speed of light, 13.8 billion light years.
What is the biggest star?
The cosmos is full of objects that defy expectations. Although it’s difficult to pin down the exact traits of any given star, based on what we know, the largest star is UY Scuti, which is some 1,700 times as wide as the Sun.
Which arm of the Milky Way do we see?
When we look to the edge, we see a spiral arm of the Milky Way known as the Orion-Cygnus Arm (or the Orion spur): a river of light across the sky that gave rise to so many ancient myths. The solar system is just on the inner edge of this spiral arm.
Do you see stars in space?
Of course we can see stars in space. We see stars more clearly from space than we do from Earth, which is why space telescopes are so useful. Even in space the stars aren’t overly bright, and our eyes can lose dark adaption pretty quickly. NASA An image from the ISS of stars and glowing layers of Earth’s atmosphere.
What is 4000 light-years away from Earth?
The most luminous star on the map is Rho Cassiopeia (ρ Cas) – to us 4000 light years away, it is a dim naked eye star, but in reality it is a huge supergiant star 100 000 times more luminous than our Sun.
How far is Earth in light-years?
Coe et al. For most space objects, we use light-years to describe their distance. A light-year is the distance light travels in one Earth year. One light-year is about 6 trillion miles (9 trillion km).
What star is 2000 light-years away?
Deneb, the dimmest of the Summer Triangle’s bright stars is about 2,000 light years away and seen in summer/fall.
Will humans ever leave the galaxy?
Our Galaxy, the Milky Way, is a disk of stars about 100,000 light-years across, and about 1,000 light-years thick. So, to leave our Galaxy, we would have to travel about 500 light-years vertically, or about 25,000 light-years away from the galactic centre.
Can humans travel to another galaxy?
The technology required to travel between galaxies is far beyond humanity’s present capabilities, and currently only the subject of speculation, hypothesis, and science fiction. However, theoretically speaking, there is nothing to conclusively indicate that intergalactic travel is impossible.
Has anyone ever left the Milky Way?
On November 5, 2018, Voyager 2 officially left the solar system as it crossed the heliopause, the boundary that marks the end of the heliosphere and the beginning of interstellar space.
What is the oldest thing in the universe?
Astronomers have found the farthest known source of radio emissions in the universe: a galaxy-swallowing supermassive black hole.
What’s the oldest planet?
PSR B12620-26 b The exoplanet known as PSR B12620-26 b is the oldest known planet in the universe, with an estimated age of about 13 billion years.
How old is space?
Scientists’ best estimate is that the universe is about 13.8 billion years old.
Does the universe have an end?
The end result is unknown; a simple estimation would have all the matter and space-time in the universe collapse into a dimensionless singularity back into how the universe started with the Big Bang, but at these scales unknown quantum effects need to be considered (see Quantum gravity).
Does the universe go on forever?
Many think it’s likely you would just keep passing galaxies in every direction, forever. In that case, the universe would be infinite, with no end. Scientists now consider it unlikely the universe has an end – a region where the galaxies stop or where there would be a barrier of some kind marking the end of space.
What is the farthest we can see into space?
“From previous studies, the galaxy GN-z11 seems to be the farthest detectable galaxy from us, at 13.4 billion light-years, or 134 nonillion kilometers (that’s 134 followed by 30 zeros),” Kashikawa said in a statement.
What is the most beautiful star?
Now, let’s see which are the shiniest stars in our beautiful starry night sky. Sirius A (Alpha Canis Majoris) Our number one star on the list. Canopus (Alpha Carinae) Rigil Kentaurus (Alpha Centauri) Arcturus (Alpha Bootis) Vega (Alpha Lyrae) Capella (Alpha Aurigae) Rigel (Beta Orionis) Procyon (Alpha Canis Minoris).
What is the hottest star color?
White stars are hotter than red and yellow. Blue stars are the hottest stars of all.
What are the coldest stars?
The dwarf star has a chilly temperature between minus minus 48 to minus 13 degrees Celsius. Previous record holders for coldest brown dwarfs were also found by WISE and Spitzer and were about room temperature. The dwarf star is estimated to be three to 10 times the mass of Jupiter.
