Astronomy and cosmology can feel detached from everyday reality. But what if we could take a 23rd-century starship tour through the Milky Way and experience the cosmos like an Earth-bound tourist visiting exotic destinations? What would we see from our window?
Although physicists enjoy speculating about warp drives, or using wormholes to jump between locations, there is no way to travel faster than light at present. So we’re assuming a fictional ability to do this – but beyond that, everything we will encounter on our voyage is based on best current theories.
Passing other probes
As we exit the solar system and enter interstellar space, we will stop initially alongside Pioneer 11, one of the first probes to leave our planetary neighbourhood. There is no “you are leaving the solar system” sign – but the border is the
