To travel a distance of 124 light years at the speed of light, it would take exactly 124 years because a light year is the distance light travels in one year. If traveling slower than the speed of light, the travel time increases proportionally. For example:
- At 10% the speed of light (0.1c), it would take about 1,240 years to travel 124 light years.
- At 99% the speed of light (0.99c), due to length contraction effects from relativity, it could take about 14.25 years from the traveler's perspective, but about 125 years from an outside observer on Earth.
The physical speed of light is approximately 299,792 kilometers per second (about 670 million miles per hour), so light travels roughly 9.46 trillion kilometers (5.88 trillion miles) in one year.
In practice, current spacecraft speeds are far slower. For instance, spacecraft traveling at tens of thousands of miles per hour would require hundreds of thousands to millions of years to cover such distances, making human travel to a location 124 light years away currently impossible with existing technology.
Summary:
- At light speed: 124 years
- At 10% light speed: ~1,240 years
- At 99% light speed (time dilation considered): ~14 years experienced by traveler, ~125 years Earth time
This highlights the immense challenge of interstellar travel across such vast distances.
