Speaker A
Have you ever wondered what would happen if you just kept going away from Earth at the speed of light? After 8 minutes, you reach the sun. After just over 4 hours, you pass the farthest planet in our solar system, Neptune, and then
Explore what happens if you travel away from Earth at light speed, from the Sun to the edge of the observable universe.
Key Takeaways
- Distances in space are vast, even at light speed.
- Human-made objects like Voyager 1 are still close compared to cosmic scales.
- The solar system is surrounded by large structures like the Oort cloud and Local Bubble.
- The Milky Way galaxy spans tens of thousands of light years.
- The observable universe is unimaginably large, requiring billions of years to traverse at light speed.
What the video covers
- Traveling at light speed, you reach the Sun in 8 minutes.
- After just over 4 hours, you pass Neptune, the farthest planet in our solar system.
- Voyager 1, the farthest human-made object, would take 23 hours to reach at light speed.
- After 29 days, you arrive at the Oort cloud, a vast shell of icy debris surrounding the solar system.
- Crossing the Oort cloud at light speed takes over a year.
- About 4 years in, you encounter the Local Bubble, a giant empty cosmic cavity.
- At around 100 years, you pass the edge of the radio bubble, the farthest reach of Earth's radar signals.
- Reaching the center of the Milky Way would take 27,000 years at light speed.
- Crossing to the far side of the Milky Way requires an additional 50,000 years.
- Traveling nonstop, it would take 46.5 billion years to reach the edge of the observable universe.
Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown
Speaker A
plunge into a chaotic storm of comets and asteroids. Now, here's the shocker. The farthest object humans have ever sent into space, Voyager 1, would take you 23 hours to reach at light speed.
Speaker A
Keep going, and after 29 days, you hit the Oort cloud, a massive shell of icy debris surrounding our solar system.
Speaker A
Even moving at light speed, it would take over a year just to cross it. Then about 4 years in, as you pass our nearest star, something strange appears.
Speaker A
A giant empty region. Our solar system is drifting inside a cosmic cavity called the Local Bubble. At around 100 years, you pass the edge of our radio bubble, the farthest distance our radar signals have ever reached. On the scale
Speaker A
of our galaxy, that's just a tiny blue dot. It would take you 27,000 years to reach the center of the Milky Way and another 50,000 years to cross to the far side. And if you never stopped, after 46.5 billion years, you'd finally reach
Speaker A
the edge of the observable universe.
Topics:spacespeed of lightsolar systemVoyager 1Oort cloudLocal BubbleMilky Wayobservable universeastronomycosmic distances
