How far can you travel without leaving your home? - Fabio Pacucci and Lindsay DeMarchi

Summary

This script celebrates a person's 100th birthday with a unique perspective on their journey through the universe. Using a holographic map, the granddaughter highlights not only their travels on Earth but also their motion through space, from daily spins around the Earth to the cosmic journey of our solar system through the Milky Way. It explores the vast distances traveled, from personal steps on Earth to the incredible movement of galaxies. Despite this extraordinary motion, the experience remains imperceptible, emphasizing the wonder and beauty in every moment of our brief, yet remarkable journey in the universe.

Takeaways

• 😀 Your 100th birthday is celebrated with a holographic map displaying your cosmic journey—showing how far you've traveled not just on Earth, but across the universe.
• 🌍 While you haven’t literally traveled through space, you’ve been hurtling around the Sun, spinning through the galaxy, and making significant progress on your cosmic journey.
• 🌏 Over your lifetime, you’ve walked approximately 120,000 kilometers, equivalent to three trips around the Earth, with additional distance covered by daily commutes.
• 🚶‍♂️ Each day, Earth’s rotation adds 30,000 kilometers to your journey without you even moving, thanks to your position on the planet’s surface.
• 🌞 Earth’s elliptical orbit around the Sun contributes another 940 million kilometers to your yearly distance traveled, further expanding your cosmic motion.
• 🌌 Our solar system orbits the Milky Way’s supermassive black hole at 200 kilometers per second, completing one full rotation every 230 million years.
• 🌠 In the 100 years of your life, you’ve traveled 600 billion kilometers—around 2,200 round trips between Earth and the Sun.
• 🚀 The Milky Way and its neighbor, the Andromeda Galaxy, are on a collision course, moving toward each other at 125 kilometers per second, expected to merge in 4.5 billion years.
• 🪐 Your entire galaxy, along with over 100 others, is part of the Virgo Supercluster, which is itself part of an even larger structure—the Laniakea Supercluster containing more than 100,000 galaxies.
• 🌍 Over your lifetime, you’ve traveled about 2 trillion kilometers at speeds of around 600 kilometers per second relative to the Great Attractor, a mysterious force pulling on galaxies.
• 🌌 The Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), the echo of the Big Bang, is used as a universal reference point, showing that you are moving at 630 kilometers per second toward the Great Attractor.

Q & A

What is the significance of the holographic map in the birthday message?

The holographic map is a creative and symbolic way to show the vastness of the journeys the person has taken—not just on Earth, but through the universe. It highlights the idea that even everyday life involves incredible, almost unfathomable motion through space.

How many kilometers has the person walked in their lifetime, and how does this compare to the Earth’s circumference?

The person has walked about 120,000 kilometers in their lifetime, which is the equivalent of traveling around the Earth three times. This gives a personal, relatable sense of the distance covered on Earth.

Why does the distance traveled each day vary based on where a person lives on Earth?

The distance a person travels due to Earth's rotation depends on their proximity to the poles. Those near the poles travel a smaller circle than those near the equator, where the distance is greatest due to the Earth's larger circumference.

What is the additional distance traveled as Earth orbits the Sun, and how does this add to a person's motion?

As Earth orbits the Sun, a person adds approximately 940 million kilometers per year to their journey. This highlights the motion of the Earth around the Sun, adding to the vastness of our daily travels, even though we don’t perceive it.

What is the heliosphere, and how does it relate to the Earth’s motion?

The heliosphere is a bubble of charged particles emitted by the Sun that contains the entire solar system. It is also in motion as it orbits the center of the Milky Way galaxy. This adds another layer of movement to our experience in space.

How fast is the solar system moving, and how long does it take to complete an orbit around the Milky Way’s center?

The solar system is moving at about 200 kilometers per second, and it takes approximately 230 million years to complete one full orbit around the center of the Milky Way.

What is the 'Great Attractor,' and how does it impact the movement of our galaxy?

The 'Great Attractor' is a mysterious gravitational center located within the Laniakea Supercluster. Its gravitational influence pulls our galaxy, along with others, causing us to move at a speed of about 600 kilometers per second relative to it.

What does the term 'Cosmic Microwave Background' (CMB) refer to, and why is it important?

The Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) is a faint radiation left over from the early universe. It serves as a reference point for astronomers to measure the motion of objects in space, including our movement relative to the universe itself.

How do astronomers measure the motion of our galaxy and the universe using the CMB?

Astronomers measure the shift in the energy of the CMB’s photons as they encounter objects moving in space. A blue-shift indicates motion towards the source of the CMB, while a red-shift indicates motion away from it. This allows us to determine our speed and direction relative to the universe.

What does the script mean by saying we are 'spiraling around a sun' and 'hurtling towards another galaxy'?

These phrases describe the dynamic motion of our solar system within the Milky Way. We are orbiting the Sun while the entire solar system is also moving towards the Andromeda galaxy, illustrating the complex and ever-changing nature of our place in the universe.