In a recent issue of The Week magazine, I came across this correction:
I’m definitely in favor of accuracy, and in favor of making things right. That said, there is no functional difference between these two distances. In practical terms, it’s the difference between a gagillion and a bazillion.
Speed Math (All Numbers Approximate)
Current speed record for a man-made object (The Juno spacecraft): 165,000 miles per hour
Speed of light (approximate): 186,000 miles per second
Multiple by which the speed of light is faster than the top speed of the Juno spacecraft: 4000
Time to reach the Ophiuchus galaxy cluster under the incorrect distance estimate, assuming we could max out at the Juno’s speed: 1.5 million years
Time to reach the Ophiuchus galaxy cluster with an accurate distance estimate instead: 1.5 trillion years
Either way, I don’t think any of us have that kind of time.