How long would it take to travel to another galaxy?

1 Answer
Oct 13, 2016

It depends...

Explanation:

There are some small satellite galaxies of the Milky Way galaxy, but let's consider our largest neighbour in the Local Group, namely the Andromeda Galaxy.

This is situated approximately #2.5# million light years away.

That means that from the perspective of the people who stay at home, a round trip would take at least #5# million years.

Note however, that the traveller(s) could experience significantly less time, if they travel with sufficient speed.

For example, if they used a spacecraft that accelerated constantly with an acceleration of #1#g (i.e. #9.8 ms^(-2)#) for about #14# years (ship time), then decelerated at #1#g for about #14# years, that would be sufficient to travel from our galaxy to the Andromeda Galaxy.

Returning home the same way, the traveller(s) would experience another #28# years of time, but arrive home to find that #5# million years had passed.