It occurred to me the other day that there's barely any science fiction that even occurs outside our own galaxy (Star Wars being the exception that proves the rule). And if it does it's usually something from Andromeda right 'next door'.
Even Star Trek only leaves the galaxy maybe one time, and that requires the help of Q.
There's that saying... too young to explore the world, too old to explore the universe.
When our children's children learn to extend their life, or figure out some sort of suspended animation, or pload their brain... what wonders they will see.
Even if we could travel at the speed of light, it would take 2.5 million years just to get to the nearest galaxy.
Time dilation is a nice property.
Quick follow up question. If you did depart and travelled at near-ligth speed to another galaxy, arrived there in a few seconds and then looked back at the earth - would it appear as only a few seconds have passed for the earthlings back home as well?
By the same token, if you are actively watching another galaxy as you travel at near-light speed towards it - will you be watching that galaxy "age" at an extremely fast pace throughout the journey?
Weird to think that too if aliens show up. Their entire civilisation is probably already gone (unless it's VERY stable over hundreds of thousands of years).
If you traveled one light year at the speed of light, when you looked back you would see light from right after you left. But since you were traveling at the speed of light, your relativistic time for the journey would be zero.
So the light you observed would be proportional to your subjective time.
Lensman. The entire Revelation Space series. Beyond the Aquila Rift. Player of Games. Algebraist. Sirens of Titan. Perry Rhodan.
And that's off the top of my head. There's quite a bit of SF (both good and trash, and I think the above list has both :) happening outside our galaxy.
Fantastic series and probably my favorite writer, but because it mostly sticks within known physics nearly all of it takes palce within about 20 light years of earth with the exception of Galactic North and maybe a few other side stories. Earth doesn't get much of a mention, but the main character is from Mars.
I guess I need to start re-reading :)
I guess I was thinking more about ones that have intergalactic travel. Do any of these actually have travel between galaxies or are they just set in an alt galaxy? Sorry, I din't really explain that thinking very clearly.
Daily science fiction has a few very short stories, including this one: https://dailysciencefiction.com/science-fiction/science-fict...