What is the oldest flood myth?

 The oldest recorded flood myth is the epic of Atra-Hasis, an Akkadian epic from 18th century BCE recorded on clay tablets.

The god Enlil wanted to wipe out all of humanity with a great flood. The god Enki however warned the wise priest Atra-Hasis, cleverly instructing him to build a large ark gathering animals and birds as well.

Description of Atra-Hasis boarding the ark and the onset of the great flood

Bringing ...whatever he had ...Whatever he had ...Pure animals he slaughtered, cattle ...Fat animals he killed. Sheep ...he choose and and brought on board. The birds flying in the heavens, the cattle and the ... of the cattle god, the creatures of the steppe,... he brought on board... he invited his people... to a feast... his family was brought on board. While one was eating an another was drinking, he went in and out; he could not sit, could not kneel, for his heart was broken, he was retching gall.

The outlook of the weather changed. Adad began to roar in the clouds. The god they heard, his clamor. He brought pitch to seal his door. By the time he had bolted his door, Adad was roaring in the clouds. The winds were furious as he set forth, He cut the mooring rope and released the boat.

... the storm... were yoked Anzu rent the sky with his talons,
He ... the land and broke its clamor like a pot... the flood came forth. Its power came upn the peoples like a battle,
one person did not see another, they could not recognize each other in the catastrophe. The deluge belowed like a bull, The wind resounded like a screaming eagle.
The darkness was dense, the sun was gone,... like flies.

• The epic of Atra-Hasis.

Everyone on the ark survived the flood and Atra-Hasis offered sacrifices for the gods. The other gods condemned Enlil’s flood and allowed humanity to repopulate the earth.

A variation of the story is also found in the epic of Ziusudra and later the flood myth in the epic of Gilgamesh would be inspired from this. Later flood myths of the region like the Biblical flood narrative is believed to be inspired from these.

What is the biggest myth about outer space?

 The biggest myth about outer space is in the name: Space.

Everyone thinks it’s empty.

I mean, why wouldn’t they? It says right there. Outer. Space.

So, why wouldn’t anyone think it’s anything but a vacuum!

Well, it’s not!

It’s teeming with a lot of stuff and activity. Just not as much as on Earth or any heavenly body, but enough to matter (no pun intended).

Image Credits: Stock photo, pixabay.

So, What’s Filling Up the Space?

Well, some of the things are familiar to us – atoms, dust, plasma, radiation, and so on.

Of course, when you leave the Earth and enter outer space, the matter density drops to negligible levels. There’s no question about that.

But, even in that seemingly vacuous space, there’s quite a bit of stuff, although not in any meaningful quantities for us to bother about it.

Think of it like this: On Earth, you have a high density of matter. As you fly into outer space, the density keeps dropping until you exit the atmosphere, when it hits negligible levels. Then, as you approach another planet, the density increases from negligible levels to a meaningful degree.

But, The Density Changes Too

Stars like the Sun have a kind of bubble or sphere of influence that can extend for light-years.

Within this halo, you’ll find an abundance of solar storms, coronal mass ejections, and other activity adding to that density.

So, matter density within this heliosphere is usually higher than what it is in the space between stars, which is even more sparse.

Things get really interesting between galaxies.

This is where matter density is the least. Lower than what’s in both interstellar and stellar systems’ space.

In short, intergalactic space is the least dense, followed by interstellar space within galaxies, and finally the stellar system space.

In general, there’s about 1 atom per cubic centimeter of interstellar medium. The intergalactic medium has an even lower average density of 1 atom per cubic meter.

And, There are Exceptions

So far, we’ve discussed only the regular baryonic matter that makes up the things we know – planets, air, water, life, etc.

But that’s not everything.

There’s the more exotic stuff you won’t easily find on Earth: cosmic rays, dark matter, neutrinos, and dark energy. Dark matter is present within galaxies, and sometimes, outside too.

And every square inch of space is bombarded with hundreds of billions of neutrinos per second, especially in stellar systems.

And the ever-present quantum fluctuations don’t relent just because you are in outer space.

Vacuum energy, or zero-point energy, pervades the space, even in regions with the lowest energy density.

In a Nutshell

Think of outer space as an extremely low-density region with a lot of activity happening in it.

It’s not some inert, empty vacuum. It’s bubbling with activity, especially within galaxies.