On 9 December 2023, Halley's Comet reached the farthest and slowest point in its orbit from the Sun when it was travelling at 0.91 km/s (2,000 mph) with respect to the Sun.

[–] misophonium@lemmy.blahaj.zone 9 points 8 months ago (2 children)

My mind is fully blown that the SR-71 could outrun a comet

[–] jqubed@lemmy.world 6 points 8 months ago (1 children)

That’s like saying I can outrun a TGV (while it’s departing the train station)

[–] XeroxCool@lemmy.world 8 points 8 months ago

Eh, I get the sentiment. Nothing in space comes to a stop and most speeds are well beyond human comprehension. The Earth orbits at 67,000mph, escape velocity is like 27,000mph, the ground at the equator moves at about 1,000mph, the Voyagers are in the 30k range, and the Park Solar probe peaks over 400,000mph. So to learn that a comet is a tangible aviation speed was neat to me, at least

[–] XeroxCool@lemmy.world 4 points 8 months ago

The SR-71 could almost outrun the moon. Maybe it could. Claimed max 2,200mph vs average 2,288mph of the moon