A news article reports the New Horizons space probe, launched January 2006, just swung by Jupiter and got a gravational velocity assist. The New Horizons space probe now has a velocity of 52,000 mph, that works out to a crackin' 14.4 miles per second. The space probe should reach Pluto in the year 2015.
how big is the solar system?
- Thread starter Rick in PA
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Assuming that was a rhetorical question..
Even though those speeds seem great, the truth is the solar system is astronomically small. Carl Sagan used to say there are "billions and billions of stars". I think he might have been off a magnitude of a billion.
Even though those speeds seem great, the truth is the solar system is astronomically small. Carl Sagan used to say there are "billions and billions of stars". I think he might have been off a magnitude of a billion.
Nobody really knows how big the solar system is-certainly billions of miles across. There are some ideas that in some sense the outer reaches of the solar system extend halfway to the other stars.
But even the nearest stars (with the special exception of the Sun) are trillions of miles away. That spacecraft now travelling 52,000 miles an hour would take tens of thousands of years to reach any of the nearest stars. It would take a spacecraft travelling at the speed of light (about 300,000 kilometers PER SECOND) over 4 years to reach the nearest stars.
But even the nearest stars (with the special exception of the Sun) are trillions of miles away. That spacecraft now travelling 52,000 miles an hour would take tens of thousands of years to reach any of the nearest stars. It would take a spacecraft travelling at the speed of light (about 300,000 kilometers PER SECOND) over 4 years to reach the nearest stars.
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Didn't the question "how big is the solar system?" refer to OUR solar system? It depends on how you measure. The orbit of Pluto has a diameter of roughly 80 Astronomical Units, which equals 0.0012 light years.
Alpha Centauri (actually Proxima Centauri, the smallest of three suns within one system) is nearest solar system to our own solar system and is over 63,000 Astronomical Units or over 4 light years from our solar system.
Alpha Centauri (actually Proxima Centauri, the smallest of three suns within one system) is nearest solar system to our own solar system and is over 63,000 Astronomical Units or over 4 light years from our solar system.
That's a biiiig twinkie.
Glad this thread isn't degrading into a discussion on the size of Uranus.
I find this local "show" really awsome:
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Check out my experiment with my digital camera and one of my telescopes.
My neighbour said after seeing the pictures that she will now keep her blinds shut!!!
http://www.pbase.com/djstefanik/magnification
As for the Universe. The size and distances are un imaginable by the comon man and woman.
Light travels at 300,000km/sec or 186,000 miles per second.
Some of the Galaxy pictures taken by Hubble are billions of light years away.
My neighbour said after seeing the pictures that she will now keep her blinds shut!!!
http://www.pbase.com/djstefanik/magnification
As for the Universe. The size and distances are un imaginable by the comon man and woman.
Light travels at 300,000km/sec or 186,000 miles per second.
Some of the Galaxy pictures taken by Hubble are billions of light years away.
Which means that we are seeing things that happened billions of years ago.
PRECISLY.
For a cheap thrill, ask various folks how far they can see.
Ask for a rough guesstimate to make the rather vague question more palatable.
The typical response I get varies greatly but is often something such as "Ohhh, I'd guess around 10 miles or so," or something roughly similar.
It is the rare human who mentions being able to see the stars at night that are many light years away.
Yeah, a very cheap thrill but I have used the query from time-to-time as a test of the thinking skills of the average Earth-dwelling humanoid. Don't meet many that can "think outside the proverbial box."
Silly humans.
But most do know who won the latest sports game or what's on sale at the mall.
The elite class revels.
So much easier to rule/lord over an ignorant populace.
Ask for a rough guesstimate to make the rather vague question more palatable.
The typical response I get varies greatly but is often something such as "Ohhh, I'd guess around 10 miles or so," or something roughly similar.
It is the rare human who mentions being able to see the stars at night that are many light years away.
Yeah, a very cheap thrill but I have used the query from time-to-time as a test of the thinking skills of the average Earth-dwelling humanoid. Don't meet many that can "think outside the proverbial box."
Silly humans.
But most do know who won the latest sports game or what's on sale at the mall.
The elite class revels.
So much easier to rule/lord over an ignorant populace.
No one knows. A short trip into quantum mechanics demonstrates that the solar system (as we think we know it) could very well be only a molecule in a MUCH larger system. Best regards. John--Las Vegas.
Maybe our universe is a molecule of GC in a Ballchinian's Chevy Camaro that just blew a piston oil ring as he was traveling at 0.9999473 times the speed of light. We are doomed considering GC's NOACK. I think there is a hugely depressing song in there somewhere.
Is space infinite. Has mass and energy existed for eternity. Can infinity and eternity exist in reality. Bedtime.
Is space infinite. Has mass and energy existed for eternity. Can infinity and eternity exist in reality. Bedtime.
How big is Uranus?
(it had to be said)
(it had to be said)
It already was.
arrgh. I looked, but missed that one. Maybe the Large Hadron Collider can be worked into this somehow.
I don't think we humans are capable of comprehending how big it is because it cannot be compared to anything!
The only way I can fathom the size of the universe is like this: Pick a direction in space, now go that direction until you get to the theoretical end of the cosmic highway. In my little brain, it only makes sense that there would still something beyond the "end". So, does space even have any real measureable parameters? I just wind up saying "Wow man, that's like totally far out!"
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