The name of the largest known galaxy is IC 1101 .
It has a radius of 1.9569 million light-years, which dwarfs the radius of our Milky Way galaxy, which is only 52,850 light-years. And it is approximately 12.31 billion years old.
This enormous elliptical galaxy is 320 megaparsecs (1.05 billion light-years) from Earth. It is also incredibly massive (no wonder), as it has a mass equivalent to about 100 trillion stars.
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Let’s start with the blow-your-pants-off scary one.
This is a star.
This is a bigger star.
So big, in fact, that when it reaches the end of its life cycle, it will collapse into a black hole.
The black hole part isn’t scary though. It will probably fizzle out and die before it reaches us.
However, the thing that the black hole emits is scary.
See, the black hole spins particles around it so fast that the particles start to emit energy.
And when that energy is concentrated enough, it cumulates into a beam, firing off into space in random directions.
Oh, did I tell you that these rays travel at the speed of light, are made out of Gamma Rays, and have the force of a hundred million stars?
And they could vaporize anything they touch?
And they could hit Earth at any time?
Still with me? Wow, you’re brave.
Now, let’s go smaller.
This is one of the many representations of an atom.
There’s a little quantum field that gives the particles that make up this atom, such as quarks and leptons, a little thing called mass.
Kinda important, no?
Now, the thing about these quantum fields is that they want to be at the lowest energy levels. Most of them are.
However, the little field that gives everything mass is believed to be metastable.
Think of it as being on a hammock. You think you’re stable, but your annoying little brother named John comes and pushes you off.
So, the Higgs Field, y’know, the field that gives the building blocks of the universe mass and allows them to be reacted with, is believed to be metastable.
And if by any chance it is pushed to true stability, a circle of death and destruction would expand in all directions at the speed of light, destroying everything it touches.
Nothing holds up to it.
Everything you know could be destroyed in a flash, and you wouldn’t know any better.
It’s quite terrifying.
1.SPACE IS FULL OF "SPACE JUNK."
Space is full of junk like used rocket parts and dead satellites. These objects continue to orbit Earth at about 17,500 mph - 10 times as fast as a speeding bullet.
The Space Surveillance Network (SSN) monitors how much debris is there and who is responsible for it. Currently SSN is tracking 23,000 items from a softball.
Space junk is dangerous because a collision can trigger a chain reaction of objects hitting each other, resulting in a dense cloud of debris that would make space travel extremely dangerous. Such a disaster was the basis of the 2013 film "Gravity" starring Sandra Bullock and George Clooney.
The US is responsible for the most space junk with debris with 3,990 pieces as of 28 March 2018. Russia is responsible for 3,959 debris, followed by China 3,893.
2. NASA HAS RECORDED EERIE SPACE "SOUNDS."
NASA uses a technique called data sonification to take signals from radio waves, plasma waves, and magnetic fields and convert them into audio tracks to "hear" what's happening in space.
The sounds range from ambulance-like screeches to beeps reminiscent of an alien spaceship making its approach.
3. SUNSETS ON MARS ARE BLUE.
The Curiosity Mars rover's first color photograph of a sunset in 2015 revealed a surprising twist - sunsets on Mars are blue.
NASA said this is because "dust in the Martian atmosphere contains finer particles that allow blue light to penetrate the atmosphere more effectively like long-wavelength colors" such as yellow, orange and red.
4. LAUNCHING THINGS INTO SPACE IS WILDLY EXPENSIVE.
If you divide the cost of a mission's launch by its cargo weight, you get some staggering numbers.
Payload specialist and space station engineer Ravi Margasahayam told Business Insider that it cost $ 10,000 to send every pound of cargo to space. Prices have skyrocketed ever since - the cargo of Orbital Science's Cygnus spacecraft costs about $ 43,180 per pound, and SpaceX's new carrier costs about $ 27,000 per pound.
Business Insider determined that a 16-ounce bottle of water can cost anywhere between $9,100 to $43,180 to blast into space today.
5. SPACE EXPLORATION
Space exploration in real life is just as mind-blowing as it looks in the movie.
The universe's size and scope are incomprehensible even to the most advanced scientists, but we're learning more and more about the final frontier every day.
6. THE APOLLO ASTRONAUTS' FOOTPRINTS ON THE MOON COULD LAST UP TO 100 MILLION YEARS.
Moon rocks burst at a rate of 0.04 inches every 1 million years. This means that the footprints of astronauts on the Moon from the Apollo mission in 1969 could range from 10 to 100 million years.
7. SPACE ISN’T ALWAYS COLD. IN FACT, IT CAN GET PRETTY HOT
In the darkest parts of space, temperatures can reach -454 degrees Fahrenheit. But if you are orbiting the Earth in sunlight, a toast in space is 250 degrees Fahrenheit. Astronauts' spacecraft are white to reflect the heat that occurs while floating above the Earth.
8. A YEAR ON VENUS IS SHORTER THAN A DAY THERE.
Venus spins very slowly in the opposite direction of Earth - 243 Earth days for a full rotation. But it only takes 225 days to go around the sun because it's so close to it. Therefore, a year on venus is shorter than a day.
9. THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION (ISS) IS THE SIZE OF A FOOTBALL FIELD.
The International Space Station is 357 feet long, just three feet less than an American football field. It weighs 925,000 pounds and is The largest single man-made structure to enter space.
The ISS has been visited by 230 people from 18 different countries to conduct research and carry out missions.
10. YOU WOULD LAST ABOUT 15 SECONDS IN SPACE WITHOUT A SPACESUIT.
Dr. Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) has a hard enough time surviving with a spacesuit in "Gravity." Without a spacesuit, it would take mere seconds to asphyxiate.
Because there's no pressure in space, air expands. This means the air inside your lungs would expand and tear through the tissue. And in such an extreme environment, your body would use up all of the oxygen in your blood in about 15 se.
Other gruesome consequences of unprotected space exposure would include loss of bowel control, boiling blood, exploding capillaries, and bloating.
11. IT'S POSSIBLE TO BECOME A SPACE OUTLAW.
Astronauts may be in free fall, but outer space isn't a free-for-all.
There are special space laws governed by the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs to make sure that space doesn't become a war zone or nuclear test site. Among them: no one can put a weapon of mass destruction into orbit, space exploration must be limited to "peaceful means," and any country that launches an object is responsible for the damage it causes.
12. OUTER SPACE ISN'T EMPTY SPACE.
Besides the obvious stars and planets, you might think that the surrounding space is completely empty - a perfect vacuum devoid of all matter.
It's true that space is a vacuum, but it's an imperfect vacuum because it contains a low density of particles like clouds of interstellar dust, space plasma, and cosmic rays.
13. THERE'S A FASCINATING REASON WHY SPACE APPEARS BLACK.
You might think that there should be no black space at all because stars are everywhere and should fill the sky with light.
This phenomenon is known as the Oleurs' paradox, which was named for the German astronomer Heinrich Wilhelm Albers in 1823: If the universe is infinite, static and timeless, then everywhere you should eventually see a star.
It was discovered that the universe is neither static nor timeless. Edwin Hubble found that the universe is expanding, and the thermal radiation left over from the Big Bang makes the universe 13.8 billion years old.
We don't see stars in every direction because some stars haven't been around long enough for their light to reach us.
14. THE SUN MAKES UP 99.8% OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM'S MASS.
The mass of the Sun is 1.989 × 1030 kg - 99.8% of the mass of the entire solar system. The rest of the solar system is a speck of dust in comparison.
15. THE CENTER OF THE MILKY WAY GALAXY HAS TENS OF THOUSANDS OF BLACK HOLES.
According to a new study, there are tens of thousands of black holes in the center of the Milky Way galaxy.
Black holes are impossible to detect on their own because light can't escape from them. But when paired with a star, they interact in a way that allows scientists to find them using X-rays.
The study posits that the center of the Milky Way contains hundreds of black holes paired with stars and 10,000 isolated black holes.
16. THERE ARE PROBABLY MORE THAN 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (1 SEPTILLION) STARS IN THE UNIVERSE.
The Milky Way galaxy contains about 100 billion stars. If you multiply that by the estimated number of galaxies in the observable universe (10 trillion is a modest guess) you get a number that is 1 with 24 zeroes after it: 1 septillion.
David Kornreich, an assistant professor at Ithaca College, said that number is probably much too low because more galaxies will likely be discovered as technology improves.
Please listen calmly. This isn't something out of science fiction.
There is a diamond-like star floating in space 50 light-years away from us. Its mass is one trillion times one billion carats. In comparison, the world's largest diamond, the Golden Jubilee, weighs only 546 carats.
This planet is named Lucy . That's right, the famous Beatles song, "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.
Lucy is a white dwarf, meaning it has exhausted its nuclear fusion energy. After billions of years of nuclear fusion, it entered its final stages, and the carbon that makes up its core crystallized into diamond. Discovered decades ago, Lucy's internal structure was unknown, but a technique called astroseismology has confirmed that 90% of a star is made up of crystallized carbon, or diamond. Researchers say that our sun is also likely to transform into a diamond when it reaches the end of its life, shining brightly into the vast universe.
Let us reflect upon our Vedic scientific knowledge:
We often use the phrase "the Brahmanda (cosmic egg) has shattered" when a major problem arises or a significant event occurs. The Upanishads state that the universe was formed when the Brahmanda shattered.
The "Big Bang Theory" posits that the universe originated from the explosion of a fireball. According to this theory, the universe was formed 13.8 billion years ago.
Let us examine what our Vedic knowledge says. When we recite the Sankalpa (ritual vow), we say: "Shveta-Varaha-Kalpe, Vaivasvata-Manvantare, Kali-Yuge, Prathama-Pade..."
The "Shveta-Varaha-Kalpa" is the third Kalpa; this means two Kalpas have already concluded.
A single Kalpa consists of 14 Manvantaras. Our current era, the "Vaivasvata," is the seventh Manvantara; thus, six Manvantaras have already passed within the third Kalpa.
This implies that a total of 34 Manvantaras (2 × 14 + 6) have elapsed so far.
One Manvantara comprises 71 Mahayugas. A Mahayuga consists of four Yugas: Krita, Treta, Dvapara, and Kali.
A single Mahayuga spans 4.32 million years. Therefore, one Manvantara equals 71 × 4.32 million years.
Since we have established that 34 Manvantaras have passed, the total duration is 34 × 71 × 4.32 million years, which equals 10,428.48 million years (or approximately 10.43 billion years). Since we are currently in the Kali Yuga, the Krita, Treta, and Dvapara Yugas have already passed, and 5,000 years of the Kali Yuga have elapsed. This amounts to 38.93 lakh years. Adding this figure brings the total to 104,323.73 lakh years.
It is recorded that a "Sandhi-kala" (transitional period) occurs after the completion of each Manvantara to allow for stabilization and cleaning the garbage. The duration of this period is equal to the lifespan of the Krita Yuga—that is, 17.28 lakh years. As 34 Manvantaras have passed, the total time for these transitions is 34 × 17.28 = 587.52 lakh years.
Combining all the above figures results in a total of 104,911.25 lakh years, which is approximately 1,050 crore years.
There is no consensus among scientists regarding this figure of 1380 crores; some dispute it. However, none of our sages ever declared our Vedic knowledge to be incorrect; there was no refutation—it was universally accepted.
Just as touching a single grain of rice is enough to determine if the whole pot is cooked, let us consider one aspect of Vedic knowledge. We can predict with absolute precision exactly when solar and lunar eclipses will occur—specifying the day and the exact time interval—not just for the next year or two, but even for the year 2050. This demonstrates the remarkable accuracy of our Vedic mathematical science.
What we state regarding the origin of the universe is also the truth. What room is there for doubt?.
Perhaps it was after reading about these amazing concepts that the Irish astrologer " Cheiro " described the Indian system of time calculation as "miraculous." (I mention his name because of the proverb, "A plant in one's own backyard is of no medicinal value"; since he was a foreigner—specifically of Greek origin—his words carried greater weight.)
Subhamastu
This is something I read a while ago that completely blew me away. I wrote about this before. As an amateur astronomer who has been watching the stars since childhood, this fact was a surprise to me.
My sister and I once spotted the Andromeda Galaxy directly above the constellation Andromeda. We were thrilled to see a faint, blurry, tiny patch of light that we thought might represent the entire Andromeda Galaxy, located 2.5 million light-years from our Milky Way. We thought it was the entire Andromeda Galaxy, 2.5 million light-years away from our Milky Way. But we were wrong. We weren't seeing the entire Andromeda Galaxy.
What we were seeing was only the bright central part of the galaxy. It's bright because the stars are most densely packed in the center of the galaxy. It has the cute name "galactic bulge."
If your eyes could collect light like a time-lapse camera, making faint stars appear much brighter than they actually are, the Andromeda Galaxy would look like this in the night sky near the moon. My sister and I were actually only seeing the central part; the rest was too dim to see.
Can you imagine seeing this scene in the night sky? It's just that the stars aren't bright enough to see it.
Another amazing thing is that the Andromeda galaxy and the Milky Way are traveling towards each other at a speed of 250,000 MPH (402,336 KPH). In 4.5 billion years, these two galaxies will collide. Catastrophic? Not quite. The stars in the galaxies are so far apart that there will be very few stars that collide. The galaxies will pass each other, but will be pulled back by gravity, and the two galaxies will form a giant elliptical galaxy.
If two galaxies collide, the solar system will be pushed to three times its current distance from the galaxy's core. Furthermore, there is a 12% chance that the solar system will be ejected from the new galaxy during the collision. Even if such an event occurs, it is unlikely to have a negative impact on the system, and it may be unlikely that the sun or planets themselves will suffer any damage.
However, by then the sun will have entered its red giant phase and will have already swallowed Mercury and Venus. Earth will be just around the corner, the water will have boiled long ago, and by then all life will have vanished from Earth. At that time, Earth will be devoid of all life, and all that will remain in the once magnificent world full of life will be vivid ashes.
Hold on tight to your hat. Located in the Orion Arm of the Milky Way galaxy, 100,000 light-years away, our solar system spirals like a giant frisbee, moving at an average speed of 515,000 miles per hour (828,000 kilometers per hour). Even at this speed, it would take approximately 230 million years for our solar system to complete one orbit around the Milky Way. It's like riding an enormous carousel.
In the photo above, on a dark night far from city lights, we can see a part of our Milky Way galaxy. We are looking at the galactic center, where the stars are most densely packed.
Where you are – the Milky Way galaxy, indicating the location of the solar system.
Now, here's another surprising fact: the Andromeda galaxy and the Milky Way galaxy are actually touching right now. Each galaxy has something called a "galactic halo," which consists of gas, dust, and stray stars. It has been discovered that the galactic halos of our galaxy and the Andromeda galaxy extend much further than previously thought.
In other words, the faint halos of the galaxies appear to be clearly beginning to touch each other. You could say the collision of the two galaxies has already begun.
The Andromeda galaxy and the Milky Way collide.
When these two galaxies collide, it will be a truly beautiful sight from Earth. As the Andromeda Galaxy approaches, the Milky Way galaxy's belt will appear distorted. And eventually, the galactic centers will merge. However, at that time, no one on Earth will be able to witness this spectacle.
It's already happened. Ten billion years ago, another small galaxy collided with the Milky Way. Again, no stars collided; the galaxies passed each other like ghosts. Eventually, the small galaxy was pulled in and joined the Milky Way along with new alien stars and gas. And that's what happened with a dwarf galaxy 4 billion years ago. Andromeda won't be the first galaxy to collide with our galaxy, but it will be the largest. Andromeda is 50% larger than our Milky Way.