Light travels faster than any other element in the world (300,000 kilometers per second), more than sound and more than a supersonic plane. Scientists and astronomers refer to the speed of light when they talk about space travel because of the distances in space room They are huge and require appropriate measurement.

To demonstrate how the speed of light works in space, James O’Donoghean astronomer who focuses on planetary research and works at JAXA (Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency), has created some scale animations.

The James Webb Telescope has captured a surprising image of Jupiter

Travel around the earth

The circumference of our planet is measured at 40,008 km. Completing a journey around the Earth at the speed of light would therefore take just 0.13 seconds. In one whole second, light can travel seven times around the circumference of the Earth.

Journey from Earth to the Moon

Traveling at the speed of light between the moon and Earth would take just 1.3 seconds. The distance between our planet and its natural satellite is 384,400 kilometers, making it the closest space body we have.

Journey from Earth to Mars

Traveling from Earth to Mars may take longer. The red planet is 140 million kilometers from ours, but taking into account their orbits and the moment when they are closest, only a distance of 54 million kilometers separates them. That means the journey in light years would take three minutes.

Journey from the sun to the earth

The sun is 149.6 million kilometers from planet Earth, which is about 100 times the diameter of the sun. This means that the journey in light time would take 8 minutes and 19 seconds.

The journey from the sun to Pluto

In our solar system, the Sun is found as a star and Pluto is a dwarf planet that was previously considered a regular planet. The distance between these two points is 5,890,199,040 kilometers, so it would take us 5 hours and 28 minutes to travel between them if we could travel at the speed of light.

Why it is not possible to travel at the speed of light

Decades of scientific studies have shown that it is impossible for an object to travel faster than the speed of light simply because an object has mass. It is possible to travel at high speed, as supersonic aircraft have already achieved by breaking the sound barrier, but nothing would reach the speed of light.

For now, astronauts still must board ships that can take days, weeks and even months to reach a destination in space. (JO)