Voyager 1, a spacecraft launched in 1977, is currently the farthest man-made object from Earth. However, even with its impressive speed, it would take an incredibly long time for Voyager 1 to reach the Andromeda Galaxy. Here's a rough estimate:
Distance to Andromeda: The Andromeda Galaxy is located about 2.537 million light-years away from Earth. This means that light from Andromeda takes approximately 2.537 million years to reach us.
Voyager 1's speed: As of 2023, Voyager 1 is traveling at a velocity of about 17 kilometers per second (11 miles per second) relative to the Sun. This speed is remarkable but still relatively slow compared to the vast distances involved in intergalactic travel.
Given these figures, let's make a simple calculation:
Distance to Andromeda (light-years) / Voyager 1's speed (light-years per year) = Time to reach Andromeda (years)
2.537 million light-years / 17 kilometers per second ≈ 2.145 x 10^12 years
So, it would take Voyager 1 roughly 2.145 trillion (2.145 x 10^12) years to reach the Andromeda Galaxy at its current speed. This timescale is significantly longer than the current age of the universe, which is estimated to be around 13.8 billion years.
To put it into perspective, Voyager 1 would take an unimaginably long time to reach Andromeda. Therefore, intergalactic travel of this magnitude is currently beyond our technological capabilities.