3 ms·

Is it just me or is the speed of light slow? /s But seriously I always "knew" in the back of my mind that the universe is huge. But to have to wait 8+ minutes

Is it just me or is the speed of light slow? /s But seriously I always "knew" in the back of my mind that the universe is huge. But to have to wait 8+ minutes to scroll from Sun to Earth at the speed of light gives a new earth-shattering perspective.

wizofaus 4y ago
Traveling at the sort of speed we can easily imagine as "fast", say 150km/hr, it'd take 115 years.
- midasuni 4y ago
  The fastest travel speed we can really understand is about the speed of sound (jet travel), most westerners have travelled at that speed. At jet speed it takes best part of a month just to get to the moon, to get to the sun takes 17 years. To reach Neptune you’d have to have left about the same time Columbus visited America.
  - dhosek 4y ago
    >The fastest travel speed we can really understand is about the speed of sound (jet travel), most westerners have travelled at that speed. To be pedantic, no, not really. Commercial jets can travel at speeds up to 955 kilometres per hour (593 mph) (per wikipedia). The speed of sound is roughly 1235 kph (767 mph). Also note that commercial jets usually travel slower than their maximum speed to save fuel.
wincy 4y ago
What’s really bizarre is from what I understand is those photons spend something between 10,000 and 170,000 years bouncing around colliding with stuff inside the sun. From there it takes a mere 8 minutes to get to earth. [0] [0] http://www.astronoo.com/en/articles/journey-of-the-photon.html http://www.astronoo.com/en/articles/journey-of-the-photon.ht...
- dotancohen 4y ago
  And then over 2,000,000 additional minutes to pass the nearest photon-emitting (as opposed to reflecting) object in the best case.
  - vikingerik 4y ago
    Technical nitpick (but HN loves these) - the gas and ice giant planets do emit photons, in the infrared, where the energy comes from gravitational compression. Neptune in particular emits 2.4x as much energy as it receives from the sun.
- marcosdumay 4y ago
  For the photons, any travel is instantaneous, and the Earth is just at the side of the Sun.

wizofaus 4y ago

Traveling at the sort of speed we can easily imagine as "fast", say 150km/hr, it'd take 115 years.

midasuni 4y ago
The fastest travel speed we can really understand is about the speed of sound (jet travel), most westerners have travelled at that speed. At jet speed it takes best part of a month just to get to the moon, to get to the sun takes 17 years. To reach Neptune you’d have to have left about the same time Columbus visited America.
- dhosek 4y ago
  >The fastest travel speed we can really understand is about the speed of sound (jet travel), most westerners have travelled at that speed. To be pedantic, no, not really. Commercial jets can travel at speeds up to 955 kilometres per hour (593 mph) (per wikipedia). The speed of sound is roughly 1235 kph (767 mph). Also note that commercial jets usually travel slower than their maximum speed to save fuel.

wincy 4y ago

What’s really bizarre is from what I understand is those photons spend something between 10,000 and 170,000 years bouncing around colliding with stuff inside the sun. From there it takes a mere 8 minutes to get to earth. [0] [0] http://www.astronoo.com/en/articles/journey-of-the-photon.html http://www.astronoo.com/en/articles/journey-of-the-photon.ht...

dotancohen 4y ago
And then over 2,000,000 additional minutes to pass the nearest photon-emitting (as opposed to reflecting) object in the best case.
- vikingerik 4y ago
  Technical nitpick (but HN loves these) - the gas and ice giant planets do emit photons, in the infrared, where the energy comes from gravitational compression. Neptune in particular emits 2.4x as much energy as it receives from the sun.
marcosdumay 4y ago
For the photons, any travel is instantaneous, and the Earth is just at the side of the Sun.