Pluto not as far away as many distant stars
Pluto, the dwarf planet that NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft just zoomed by, is 3 billion miles away. It took the craft nearly 10 years to reach the most distant world in the solar system, and it will continue traveling in deep space indefinitely at about 31,000 mph.
Pluto is so distant that signals from New Horizons traveling at the speed of light take 4 1/2 hours to reach Earth.
As far away as it is, however, Pluto is a close neighbor compared to the stars. Other than our Sun, the closest star to us is Proxima Centauri, at 4.22 light years away. If New Horizons were to head directly for it at its present speed, it would take it more than 81,000 years to reach that star.
In theory, spaceships might travel faster. According to universetoday.com, nuclear-pulse propulsion might increase speed to 5 percent of light. If such technology existed, a spacecraft launched today would reach Proxima Centauri in 2100. Of course, it wouldn’t be until 2114 before we heard word of its success.
Our achievements in exploring the planets have been amazing, but humankind is a long way from traveling the universe. With the closer planets, we have moved from the sofa to the front door; with Pluto, we have walked to the mailbox. To reach the stars and the planets of their systems, we will have to waddle to Australia and beyond.