Charios

How long does it take to reach the stars? Discuss. I'm sitting here about to head off to Alpha Centauri, with as precise a journey ahead of me as is possible to have, and I find I can't answer this simple question satisfactorily. In principle, it's straightforward. Alpha Centauri A is currently 4.375 light years away from Earth. I'll be scooting along at the speed of light, so a quick calculation indicates it'll take me 1597 days, 23 hours and 15 minutes to get there, give or take a few seconds. One of the handy things about relativity - for someone with a low boredom threshold - is this: the faster you go, the quicker the journey is for yo