September 18, 2012 1 Comment
I recently came across this great short video clip comparing the size of our Milky Way Galaxy to other much larger Galaxies.
The largest one at the end is called IC1101 (the video accidentally calls it IC1011), and I have found that there are estimated to be over 100 Trillion Stars in it!
Check it out! Read more of this post
August 8, 2012 2 Comments
The Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-III) has released the largest three-dimensional map of massive galaxies and distant black holes ever created. The map pinpoints the locations and distances of over a million galaxies. It covers a total volume equivalent to that of a cube four billion light-years on a side. Read more of this post
July 11, 2012 Leave a Comment
Dark galaxies are small, gas-rich objects from the early universe. A telescope in South America has apparently found evidence of these primitive galaxies born in the early universe. Read more of this post
April 6, 2012 1 Comment
A computer simulation of the third impact of the Sagittarius-Dwarf galaxy 2 billion years ago.
Dark matter makes up about 80 percent of the universe, yet it is invisible to telescopes, nor does it interact strongly with other particles. Scientists cannot fully understand dark matter, but they do know that it exists based on it heavily affecting the movements of visible matter in the universe.
The leading candidate for what dark matter is composed of are subatomic particles. Subatomic particles that are considered Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) collide to destroy each other, emitting gamma rays which are detectable by NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. Scientists have been analyzing data collected from the telescope that has been peering into 10 dwarf galaxies, looking for signs of matter. The dwarf galaxies are the best candidates because they have much less interference than our own larger galaxy emits.
November 15, 2011 25 Comments
You might be under the impression that you are completely grounded at the moment.
You might also be under the impression that you aren’t in motion at this very moment.
On both accounts, you would be completely wrong.
Above You Goes on FOREVER
You are on the ground of the earth due to earth’s gravitational force, but what ground is the earth on?
The earth is not stationary on the ground of some universal plane. Right now as you read this, you are hurling through the universe at 67,000 miles an hour around a giant nuclear explosion (the sun) and rotating at the same time at a speed just over 1000 miles an hour.
Whoa.
Due to the relative size of the earth compared to us as individuals, these insane levels of speed are not even close to being perceived by us as we go about our daily lives.
To think just a few hundred years ago we thought the earth was flat and the sun was just a few miles away shows how far along we have come in our cosmic understanding. We now understand that the universe has no ground. It is forever expanding in all directions and it isn’t stopping.
There are no boundaries, and no edges to the whole universal picture. We have grown accustomed to being comfortable in our little organic spaceship as all this universal chaos is happening right outside our windows.
What I find amazing is how we have discovered all this information through our very own innovation. From the sticks and stone days of the cavemen, we have evolved our technology so far that we have seen the afterglow of the big bang and determined that a majority of the universe is made out of dark matter.
What could possibly be next?
Is there any ground to human innovation?
Is there any limit to what we can discover?
Will we eventually find the answer to all creation?
Maybe.
There are over 10,000 scientists right now working on a project that will hopefully crack all understanding of physics and reveal the hypothesized Higgs boson, better known as the “God Particle”.
If we do in fact discover this particle and redefine all scientific understanding, do you honestly think we are going to stop exploring and discovering?
I believe there will never be an end to human innovation and creativity as long as we are a race.
Maybe that is our purpose as a race.
No other species on this planet has any clue what we are doing and they go about their business having no idea that they too are part of this ship that is hurling through the vast infinite universe.
I think our purpose is to constantly stretch the limits of understanding.
If you think we have come a long way in the last few hundred years, where are we going to be in the next few hundred years?
It will most likely be completely beyond our comprehension just as the internet would be to a caveman.
Assuming we don’t exterminate our own race at some point down the line, we are going to keep evolving and it is not going to stop.
We are not stationary or moving backwards with our innovation and technology.
The same way the earth is not grounded, our creativity and thirst for innovation keeps moving at an extremely fast pace.
Everything keeps moving no matter how grounded it may appear to be. It keeps moving forward towards an eventual outcome which is far beyond our current reason.
Within the billions and billions of galaxies within the known universe, maybe someone or something has the answer and we are just playing catch up.
If we are just slightly genetically different than chimpanzees, who is to say there isn’t a species that is slightly more genetically advanced than us and then more and more species that are slightly genetically more advanced then them. The level of possibility has no ground, no end to its complexity.
