• Question: how long does it take to get to the sun

    Asked by anon-191732 to Kathryn, Anne, Agnes, Adam on 8 Nov 2018. This question was also asked by anon-191638.
    • Photo: Kathryn

      Kathryn answered on 8 Nov 2018:


      It takes like 8 minutes to travel from the sun to Earth. Light travels at 300,000 km/s. So you can work it out for slower speeds.

    • Photo: Anne Green

      Anne Green answered on 8 Nov 2018:


      As Kathryn says, it takes light 8 minutes to travel the 93 million miles from the Sun to Earth. Nothing can move faster than light so it would take us (or any object) longer than that. In August this year NASA launched a spacecraft called the Parker Solar Probe which is going to travel to within 4 million miles of the Sun. On Oct 29th it got to within 26.55 million miles of the Sun, breaking the previous record. To travel to the Sun in a straight line would take a huge amount of energy, so instead it’s flying in elipses (squished circles) which take it closer and closer to the Sun each orbit. You can learn more about it here: http://parkersolarprobe.jhuapl.edu/The-Mission/index.php

    • Photo: Agnes Wojtusiak

      Agnes Wojtusiak answered on 9 Nov 2018:


      Well, if (somehow) someone was to build a bridge from here to the sun, and (somehow) you managed to walk at an average pace without stopping… It would take you over 3000 YEARS!!!
      .
      Kathryn’s and Anne’s answers are probably more useful.

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