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How long would it take to get to the Sun?

The Sun is 91,403,702 miles from Earth at its closest and 94,510,558 miles at its farthest. A car at 65 mph would need 160 years for the shorter distance and 166 years for the longer. A passenger jet at 570 mph would need 18.3 years and 18.9 years.

91,403,702 mi

Distance at the closest

8 minutes 11 seconds

Light travel time at the closest

160 years

By car at 65 mph

18.3 years

By jet at 570 mph

A bright red prominence of gas rising from the edge of the Sun — A solar prominence rises, twists and churns along the Sun's edge in extreme ultraviolet light, seen by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory on January 23 and 24, 2017. Image: NASA/GSFC/SDO.

Travel time by vehicle

Travel time to the Sun by vehicle
Vehicle	Speed	Closest	Typical	Farthest
Walking	3 mph	3,476 years	3,535 years	3,594 years
Bicycle	12 mph	869 years	884 years	898 years
Car on a highway	65 mph	160 years	163 years	166 years
Passenger jet	570 mph	18.3 years	18.6 years	18.9 years
SR-71 Blackbird, its official speed record	2,193 mph	4.8 years	4.8 years	4.9 years
Voyager 1, about 17 km/s	38,028 mph	100 days	102 days	104 days
Parker Solar Probe at closest approach, 692,000 km/h	429,989 mph	8 days 21 hours	9 days	9 days 4 hours
Light	670,616,629 mph	8 minutes 11 seconds	8 minutes 19 seconds	8 minutes 27 seconds

How long real spacecraft took

Parker Solar Probe needed 6.4 years. Spacecraft rarely fly straight at a target. They follow curved paths timed to launch windows, so the trip is longer than the distance alone suggests.

Spacecraft that reached the Sun
Mission	Launched	Arrived	Trip time	What happened
Parker Solar Probe	August 12, 2018	December 24, 2024	6.4 years	Closest approach, 6.1 million km from the Sun's surface at 692,000 km/h

Why the answer changes

The Sun is 1.0 times farther away at its farthest than at its closest, so every travel time above is 1.0 times longer at the far end. The Earth's orbit is slightly oval, so the distance changes by about 3,106,856 miles over the year. The typical figure is the average.

Try your own speed

Speed

Unit

Other destinations

The MoonBy car, 145 days at the closest.MarsBy car, 59.5 years at the closest.VenusBy car, 41.7 years at the closest.JupiterBy car, 642 years at the closest.

Sources and method

Distances: NASA Planetary Fact Sheet, accessed October 18, 2026. Closest and farthest are the minimum and maximum distance from Earth in NASA's table. Typical is the midpoint, except for the Moon (average distance) and the Sun (mean distance).
Vehicle speeds are round figures chosen for comparison, not measurements. Light travels at 299,792.458 km/s.
Parker Solar Probe: News coverage reporting NASA's figures.