02-02-2009, 11:23 AM
TrainNut Wrote:Just to put this into perspective, the Speed of light travels at a speed of 186,000 miles a second or 700 million miles an hour. The space shuttle only travels at about 5 miles per second or 17,500 mph. To put THAT into perspective, next time your in your car, note how long it takes you to drive 5 miles and then realize, the space shuttle can do that in 1 second.
From a scientific point of view, light from the nearest star, other than the sun, (Proxima Centauri), takes four and a half years to get here. Thus, when you look up into the sky at night, none of those stars you see are there anymore. It's a direct window into the past. How's that to boggle the brain?
I feel like im in Astronomy Class again lol. Ill have to say, taking that class was fun and VERY interesting. Some of the things that we learned, for example what TN said about the stars and there light, just blew me away!!