Speed & Distance
How far is far? Turn any distance into laps around the Earth, trips to the Moon, footsteps, and the time it takes light itself to cross it.
How long to cross the galaxy?
The Milky Way is about 100,000 light-years edge to edge. On foot that's 1,241,540,184,654,595,227,648 steps. Here's that same trip at every speed we know how to travel.
And that's only our own galaxy. Andromeda, the nearest big one, is 25 times further still.
Try any distance
Type any number and see what it really means β laps of the Earth, trips to the Moon, footsteps, and how long the journey takes.
How far is a real place?
Search any place on Earth and see how long it'd take to reach it, as the crow flies β from an ant all the way up to a beam of light.
How far toβ¦
Real distances, how long light takes to get there, and how long you'd take β pick your ride.
| Destination | Distance (km) | Light takes | Footsteps |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Moon | 384,400 | 1.3 seconds | 504,461,942 |
| The Sun | 149,600,000 | 8.3 minutes | 196,325,459,318 |
| Mars (average) | 225,000,000 | 12.5 minutes | 295,275,590,551 |
| Pluto (average) | 5,900,000,000 | 5.5 hours | 7,742,782,152,231 |
| Proxima Centauri (nearest star) | 40,000,000,000,000 | 4.2 years | 52,493,438,320,209,976 |
| Center of the Milky Way | 246,000,000,000,000,000 | 26,000 years | 322,834,645,669,291,360,256 |
| Across the Milky Way | 946,000,000,000,000,000 | 100,000 years | 1,241,469,816,272,965,861,376 |
| The Andromeda Galaxy | 24,000,000,000,000,000,000 | 2.5 million years | 31,496,062,992,125,983,195,136 |
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