How long does it take to reach the nearest star?

Question

Just curious to know for fun. Sometimes I just wonder. I know stars are very far away.

How long would it take for one of NASA rockets to reach a star? I know we have traveled very far already, unsure how far.

Answer 1

One day we will send probes to the nearest stars but not in the foreseeable future.



Right now our own solar system is mostly unexplored.



We wouldn't send one of the probes like the ones NASA already has for solar system exploration to the stars it would take far too long. For example Voyager 1 is the fastest man made object so far. Even so, it is estimated it would take 17,000 years to travel just 1 light year and the nearest star is over 4 light years away.



Voyager will pass relatively close (1.6 light years) away from star Gilese 445, since the star is rushing towards our solar system Voyager will make the journey in a staggeringly short 40,000 years.



Hopefully you see now why sending probes to the stars is completely impractical. We can learn about deep space with huge telescopes but to actually go there with probes will require a completely new propulsion system.

Answer 2

This changes depending on the technology you intend to use.

The nearest star is the unremarkable red dwarf Proxima Centauri at 4.2 light years.



For chemical propulsion it would probably take around 80,000 years without gravity assist. The big problem here is that 80,000 years from now Proxima will have moved to more than 6 light years away. Your chemical rocket is in fact travelling slower than the motion of the star in relation to our own. Basically, this means the craft will never catch up and is doomed to drift through the galaxy forever.



If you want to reach Proxima you need to do it within the 30,000 year window in which it is nearby.



Using the sun as a slingshot, chemical rocket might manage that. Also some sort of electric propulsion like VASIMR or an ion engine might be a little quicker. If the extremely dubious EMdrive works that too may be able to make it within that window.



The limit of what is known to be possible is the long abandoned nuclear pulse propulsion. First developed in the 1950s, the concept works by detonating small nuclear bombs behind the spacecraft every few seconds. The blast wave from each bomb propels the craft forward. It was abandoned because of nuclear treaties but also because using it to lift off from earth would give the local population cancer!



The craft could still be used in space though, and the idea probably would work. It'd certainly put our nuclear weapons to a far better use! A probe accelerated by Nuclear pulse propulsion could reach Proxima within 150 years. Just don't expect it to slow down again when it gets there!

Answer 3

I decided to answer your question primarily because of your statement, "Just

curious to know for fun." I hope that you keep on being curious and have fun

with it, as well!



RE: "I know we have traveled very far already…"



I hate to rain on your parade, but "we" have traveled only as far as the moon,

which is only about 385,000 kilometers. Yes, I know, we have sent spacecraft

all over the solar system, but they were robotic spacecraft. So, we have

investigated the solar system and even much, much further, but we haven't

put "boots on the ground" anywhere except the moon. Some might think that

I'm playing with words, but hey that's my opinion.



Now to answer your question:



The Voyager spacecraft are usually cited as the fastest human artifacts, with

Voyager 1 traveling at 17 kilometers per second and Voyager 2 traveling at

15 kilometers per second. They might be the fastest things heading out of the

solar system, but they are not the fastest spacecraft ever made. That distinction

belongs to the Helios A & B spacecraft (a.k.a. Helios 1 & 2), launched during

the 1970s to study the sun up close. The Helios B spacecraft attained a top

speed at perihelion (closest approach to the sun) of 70.22 kilometers per

second.



So, let's use that as our velocity.



v = fastest spacecraft velocity = 70.22 km/s = 70,220 m/s

d = distance* to nearest star** = 4.01E+16 m

t = elapsed time of journey = to be determined

*40 trillion kilometers

**Proxima Centauri



By the old "rate" formula that you learned in junior high school:



v = d/t

vt = d

t = d/v

t = 4.01E+16 m / 70,220 m/s

t = 5.71E+11 s = 18,100 years

Answer 4

Voyager 1 is now about 1 light day away after 37 years.

It is the furthest away of any space probe.



Nearest star is 4.2 light years away = 1533 days

So time to go 1533 days is 37 * 1533 = years

= 13,505 years

Answer 5

It would take a good few thousands of years to reach Proxima Centauri. It took New Horizons 10 years to reach Pluto which is nowhere near the edge of our solar system.

Answer 6

I live close to Hollywood, I could probably reach a 'star' in 2 hours.

Answer 7

Stars are NOT very far away. The closest one is THE SUN, and it is only 93,000,000, miles away. Using the best rocket ship we have available NOW, it would take about 10 YEARS to travel to the sun.

Answer 8

At 93 million mph, it would take 93 million hours to reach the nearest star (that star being the sun)

Answer 9

If your speed as fraction of Light speed (c) is say, c/n.

It takes n times the number of years in a star at so many Light Years.

If Proxima Centauri is at 4¼ Light Years, then it take (with your speed c/n)

[4¼]n years.

Currently 60,000 kmph is possible that is

c/n = 60,000,

n = c/(60,000 kmph/3,600) = 300,000 x 3,600 / 60,000 = 18,000.

as 60,000 kmph = 60,000 kmph / 3,600 = 16.66 km/s .

It takes

[4¼]n = [4¼] 18,000 = 76,500 years.

Answer 10

You can't get there from here. It's moving away faster than we can presently travel.

Answer 11

too long!

at least 100 years.