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The Space Launch System (also being looked at for "interstellar precursor missions") would be even more capable. [134] [135] Such an interstellar precursor could easily pass by ʻOumuamua on its way out of the Solar System, at speeds of 63 km/s (39 mi/s). [136] [137]
The Solar System is traveling at an average speed of 230 km/s (828,000 km/h) or 143 mi/s (514,000 mph) within its trajectory around the Galactic Center, [3] a speed at which an object could circumnavigate the Earth's equator in 2 minutes and 54 seconds; that speed corresponds to approximately 1/1300 of the speed of light.
Map showing the Sun located near the edge of the Local Interstellar Cloud and Alpha Centauri about 4 light-years away in the neighboring G-Cloud complex. The Local Interstellar Cloud (LIC), also known as the Local Fluff, is an interstellar cloud roughly 30 light-years (9.2 pc) across, through which the Solar System is moving.
The more distant planets retrograde more frequently, as they do not move as much in their orbits while Earth completes an orbit itself. The retrograde motion of a hypothetical extremely distant (and nearly non-moving) planet would take place during a half-year, with the planet's apparent yearly motion being reduced to a parallax ellipse.
The Interplanetary Transport Network (ITN) [1] is a collection of gravitationally determined pathways through the Solar System that require very little energy for an object to follow. The ITN makes particular use of Lagrange points as locations where trajectories through space can be redirected using little or no
The scientific study of the heliosphere is heliophysics, which includes space weather and space climate. Flowing unimpeded through the Solar System for billions of kilometers, the solar wind extends far beyond even the region of Pluto until it encounters the "termination shock", where its motion slows abruptly due to the outside pressure of the ...
The Sun moves through the heliosphere at 84,000 km/h (52,000 mph). At this speed, it takes around 1,400 years for the Solar System to travel a distance of 1 light-year, or 8 days to travel 1 AU (astronomical unit). [113] The Solar System is headed in the direction of the zodiacal constellation Scorpius, which follows the ecliptic. [114]
The Solar System remains in a relatively stable, slowly evolving state by following isolated, gravitationally bound orbits around the Sun. [28] Although the Solar System has been fairly stable for billions of years, it is technically chaotic, and may eventually be disrupted. There is a small chance that another star will pass through the Solar ...