how far are the nearest stars?

[spacerings]

About half way down this linked page he shows a photo of the Andromeda Galaxy with and with out the stars from our galaxy in the way. (http://www.motodom.com/Galaxy.htm<br />Does that mean there is actually empty, "raw" space as he calls it?.... with NOTHING in it? I never thought of that.

 

[petepan]

One of the closest stars to us is Alpha Centauri at 4.5 LY (light years) away. Andromeda galaxy is roughly 2million LY away. There are quite a few stars closer than that, don't have a list right now. <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" />

 

[spacerings]

He means not counting stars in our galaxy. Alpha Centauri, I'm assuming, is in our galaxy?<br /><br />And is this quote right or is his figuring wrong?<br /><br />"If you were so large a Being that the Sun and the Earth (including all of the actual space of distance between the two) could fit in the palm of your hand.. and you then decided to start walking, with such oversized Being strides (you would be walking much faster than the speed of light!), towards the next Star nearest to our Sun -you would need to walk for 19 straight hours without stopping (through empty space) before you would reach your destination to the next nearest Star. Most of the Stars you see in the night sky from earth, you would reach in 20-40 years of such walking.. not to mention making it out of our own Galaxy!.. to another nearby Galaxy. (For example, at that rate, would take you 100,000 years of walking, without stopping, just to reach the first galaxy nearest to us!)"

 

[formulaterp]

I think his figuring is a bit wrong. Alpha Centauri is 4.3 light years away. That's about equal to 38,000 light hours away. If it would take you only 19 hours to reach AC, then you are traveling at 2,000 times the speed of light. The Andromeda Galaxy is around 2,500,000 light years away. At the same speed you should be able to reach it in a mere 1,250 years. Better pack a lunch.

 

[rhodan]

The ten nearest stars are all within nine lightyears distance from our sun. The nearest 26 stars are all within 12 lightyears from our sun. There maybe 400,000,000,000 stars in our Milky Way Galaxy alone who are all relatively nearby compared to the zillions of stars that form the 100's of billions of galaxies that make up our Universe.

 

[unlearningthemistakes]

<font color="yellow">"If you were so large a Being that the Sun and the Earth (including all of the actual space of distance between the two) could fit in the palm of your hand.. and you then decided to start walking, with such oversized Being strides (you would be walking much faster than the speed of light!), towards the next Star nearest to our Sun -you would need to walk for 19 straight hours without stopping (through empty space) before you would reach your destination to the next nearest Star. Most of the Stars you see in the night sky from earth, you would reach in 20-40 years of such walking.. not to mention making it out of our own Galaxy!.. to another nearby Galaxy. (For example, at that rate, would take you 100,000 years of walking, without stopping, just to reach the first galaxy nearest to us!)" </font><br /><br /><br />uhhhummm...for the sake of the idea, let's discount gravity.<br /><br />A body as big as that would experience ( as vogon13 was saying/coining sometime ago) chronomatic stress. kinetic energy can move in a lmited speed, limited by C. <br /><br />aside from that, should there be anything that size, that creature's brain could only send electric impulses/messages to other parts of his body no faster than half C. so, it would take time before the messages from his brain can reach the legs. <br /> <br /><br />the idea is like this:<br /><br />If you have a very strong metal rod, capable of withstanding shearing stress, 100,000,000 Km long, one end is free swinging and the other end is fixed. the free swinging end has a light bulb fixed unto it. now, you make a swing of an arc 180 deg. <br /><br />question: would you see the light bulb travel as fast or faster than light because of the relative <i>big swing</i> ?<br /><br />or would the metal experience stress, since kinetic energy from the fixed end could only travel at speed limited by C and thus nearer atoms/molecules in the metal rod would have already moved while the other fart <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p>pain is inevitable</p><p>suffering is optional </p> </div>

 

[spacerings]

For those of you commenting on the closest stars: What I'm really asking, I guess, is.... Are there stars between galaxies? Or is it empty. I'm sorry if that was clear from your answers. I am so new everything has to be explained.

 

[harmonicaman]

Yes! Here's a related SDC article.

 

[unlearningthemistakes]

<font color="yellow">Are there stars between galaxies?</font><br /><br /><br />yes, there <i>are.</i> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p>pain is inevitable</p><p>suffering is optional </p> </div>

 

[nexium]

Even in the great voids between galaxtic groups, there are likely a few class M stars <br />and a few compact stars = Black holes, nuetron stars and white dwarf stars<br /> which have cooled off. Stars which were ejected from their birth place<br />12 billion years ago, that have traveled 1% of c on the average with respect<br />to their birth place have traveled 120 million light years, which in some directions,<br />(most likely travel slower with respect to their birth place, so they are rare)<br />would have taken them well into one of the great voids between galaxtic groups. Neil

 

[joshbe]

The true "closest star" is Proxima Centauri, 4.2 lightyears away. It is in the triple star system with Alpha and Beta Centauri (both 4.3 ly away now) so they rotate which is closest. I don't know the length of time it takes for them to change, however.

 

[qso1]

Attached list as jpeg file. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><strong>My borrowed quote for the time being:</strong></p><p><em>There are three kinds of people in life. Those who make it happen, those who watch it happen...and those who do not know what happened.</em></p> </div>

 

[www_motodom_com]

Thanks Formulterp... my miss. <br />I adjusted that on the website.. http://www.motodom.com/Galaxy.htm ;to reflect that such a giant sized Being, who could hold the sun and earth and distance in between in his/her palm, would be able to walk to the nearest galaxy within 1200 years. Not 100,000 years as previously posted.<br /><br />(I must have just forgotten to divide something somewhere in the calcs, indeed.)<br />Nice catch!<br />Cheers!<br />Mystery DJ Motodom.com

 

[www_motodom_com]

Thank you Nexium.<br /><br />I adusted the website http://www.motodom.com/Galaxy.htm to reflect this and the info by Harmonica too.<br /><br />(makes total sense that some star stuff escapes a galaxy's clutches over time. So I had to adjust to reflect that the space between galaxies is "nearly empty." <br />H.O.E.! (Heaven On Earth)<br />Thanks again,<br />Mystery DJ Motodom.com

 

[www_motodom_com]

Hi Unlearningthemistakes,<br />Good point.. glad I didn't have to so "qualify" the 'Oversized Being' example! It's just nice to let the mind race through the example, rather than having to account for the impossibilities. I like the idea of thought inside of such a creature's brain. Rather big lightening bolts, eh?<br /><br />H.O.E.! (Heaven On Earth)<br />Mystery DJ Motodom.com

 

[tfwthom]

Astronomy (April 2006 page 46) has a piece called "Meet the Neighbors" about the nearest stars. You might want to pick it up. It's a special issue "All About Stars". <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font size="1" color="#3366ff">www.siriuslookers.org</font> </div>

 

[alokmohan]

Sirius surpasses all in brightness.

 

[nexium]

Serius has the highest absolute brightest and highest apparent brightness<br />of the closer stars, but about 1% of the the more distant stars have<br />higher absolute brightness. The large gap between star 31 and 32, makes me<br />suspect there are several stars to be found, between 13 and 15 light years. Neil