There exists only two points of reference in relation to the speed of light: heavy, globular bodies, and light itself. Too often are these reference points dichotomized, the latter still treated as theoretical, and the supraluminal inconceivable. Even lightspeed is inertia, travelling at c constantly. Storytellers seeking to spruce their novellas with high-tech intergalactical space travel will need to address the less-than-easy to hide mechanics of the relative slowness of human-sized space shuttles designed for exploration. To satisfy hard sci-fi fans, at least.
The fastest man-made object, the Parker Probe, recently orbited the sun at a record-breaking speed of 394,736 mph (635,266 km/hr), piggybacking some of the momentum of the sun's gravity to accelerate in an oval trajectory (akin to missing a golf cup), yet this is still far less than the 671 million miles light travels in an hour. Thus, the speed of human technology fit for human survival is less than 0.1% of the speed of light. The relatively low-tech manhole cover that allegedly entered space in 1957 is or was estimated to be travelling at 130,000 mph. It is encouraging, thus, that in 66 years, man-made artifacts have tripled in speed.
Not counting lasers, which travel at or near the speed of light. Of course, there isn't much of a point in conceiving the need to travel at light speed, unless one wanted to reach habitable exoplanets in a human lifetime.
Alpha Centauri, being 4.37 light years away, would take 6,000 human years to reach with existing technology. One project estimate in 2021 suggested a 100 Gigawatt laser powered for 10 minutes on earth or the moon could propel a tiny circuit board to 1/5th the speed of light and reach Alpha Centauri in 22 years, with another 4 years to return data.
Considering the Voyager 1 has been in space for 46 years and still communicates, 26 years to receive a response doesn't appear out of the question. Whether or not any habitable planets exist there remains to be seen, but the idea that a civilization on Alpha Centauri developed and launched a similar probe after locating Earth would appear to be miniscule, unless they are thousands of years ahead of our own and doesn't engage in the same kind of self-destructive tendencies.
The sun is a simple reminder that whatever happens on the Sun, happened 8 and 1/3 minutes ago to the human eye.
And it is somewhat analogous to terrestrial communication, where even a 1 second delay in radio or cell phone communication can cause a conversation to appear as if humans are talking from different planets.
But that is what humans are. As Juno MacGuff said in the 2007 film Juno, "I'm a planet."