How it works
The table divides each average distance by a speed. Light travels about 186,000 miles (300,000 km) every second, so it reaches us from the Moon in just over a second and from the Sun in about 8 minutes.
Distances to planets are their average distance from the Sun, which is close to their typical distance from Earth for the outer planets. The real distance changes all the time as the planets move.
The spacecraft speed is about 38,000 mph (61,000 km/h), close to the fastest launch from Earth so far (New Horizons). Even at that speed, the nearest star would take tens of thousands of years.
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Speed of lightThe universe's speed limit, and why every glance at the sky is a look back in time.
Light-yearA unit of distance, not time: how far light travels in one year.
The Voyager probesTwo 1977 spacecraft that toured the outer planets and now travel between the stars.
Solar SystemThe Sun, eight planets, dwarf planets and icy belts, from Mercury to the Oort Cloud.