Several years ago a spaceship was sent out into the Universe. How long will it be before it gets to the next s

Question

The spaceship is past Pluto. I know its several light years to the nearest star. But is there anything out there before that?

Answer 1

We've sent 4 craft beyond the orbit of Pluto; Pioneer 10 & 11, and Voyager 1 & 2. Beyond the orbit of Pluto is the Kuiper belt, which has most likely about 10-25 planetoids about the size of Pluto. Beyond that is the Oort cloud, where many one-pass comets are from. Out beyond THAT is empty space. In the direction Pioneer 10 is heading, it's nearest encounter will be Sirius, probably around the year 80,000, at present speed.

Answer 2

Voyager I and Voyager II.

They were not aimed at the nearest star, nor were they aimed at any particular star. Their missions were aimed sucessfully at fly-bys.

Voyager 1 had as its primary targets the planets Jupiter and Saturn and their associated moons and rings; its current mission is the detection of the heliopause and particle measurements of solar wind and the interstellar medium.

unlike Voyager 1, Voyager 2 followed a slower trajectory that allowed it to be kept in the ecliptic (the plane of the Solar System) so that it could be sent to Uranus and Neptune by means of gravity assist during the 1981 encounter at Saturn. Because of this, Voyager 2 could not see the moon Titan up close like its twin, but it allowed the probe to become the first spacecraft to travel to Uranus and Neptune, thus completing the Planetary Grand Tour, a rare geometric arrangement of the outer planets that only occurs once every 176 years.

Both Voyager probes are powered by three radioisotope thermoelectric generators, which have far outlasted their originally intended lifespan, and are now expected to continue to generate enough power to keep communicating with Earth until at least around the year 2020.

Answer 3

yes, there are hundreds of objects of size of Pluto or smaller beyond the Pluto.
I call them object because those including Pluto are excluded from planet definition.
When Solar system really ends (no more object around the Sun) then it's waste space for several light years until the next solar system.
probably with some meteorites, dust etc...
.

Answer 4

If a rocket goes 100,000 mph. That would be about 27 miles a second. The speed of light is 186,000 miles a second. If your asking how long it will take to get to another star, it would be million years.
The nearest star is over 4 light years away. That means it would take 4 years to get there if you go at the speed of light.
100,000 mph is 6700 times slower than the speed of light. Therefore it would take 26800 years to reach the nearest star.

Answer 5

Seemingly not, but maybe. Scientists think there is something they are calling the Ort Cloud beyond Pluto, where objects like meteors or comets originate. There may be planets beyond Pluto. Time will tell.

Answer 6

Nope. Just a lot of empty space with lots of little particles whizzing around.