Ballpark — September 4, 2026
Answers to that day's 5 daily estimation questions.
How many minutes does it take a recreational runner to run one mile?
~10 minutes
Many casual runners run a mile in about 8–12 minutes.
Heart rate of a blue whale
~4 gal/cycle
Many modern dishwashers use only a few gallons per load.
How fast does the International Space Station travel as it orbits Earth, in miles per hour?
~17,100 mph
At this speed the ISS circles the planet roughly every 90 minutes, completing about 16 orbits a day.
How many light-years away is Proxima Centauri, the closest known star to our Sun?
~4.24 light-years
Proxima Centauri is part of a three-star system and will remain our closest stellar neighbor for another 25,000 years.
How far from Earth does the James Webb Space Telescope orbit, at the L2 Lagrange point (in miles)?
~1 million miles
At L2, Webb's sunshield can block the light and heat of the Sun, Earth, and Moon all at once.