Katy was always drawn to the unknown, especially her love for space and the stars. Maybe it was because for her, mystery was magnetic...in a sexy way. Like her neighbour Josh, who had moved in a month ago. He didn't make an attempt to introduce himself to anyone in the area but not in an impolite way. He kept to himself and the only time Katy saw him out the house was when he went to gym and work. Other than that all she, and the other neighbours knew about him, was his name.
But Katy brushed that aside for now. She clicked on her phone and opened up her favourite blog to read about one of the most interesting questions asked by curious minds.
Katy began to read...
Jade Brey's blog
Thank me later but, the next time you out with your SO –
Significant Other- and you decide to have a pleasant outdoor date night, laying
on a soft blanket and gazing up the stars, this is what you say, “(*Insert
person’s name here*) did you know that we are staring into the past?”
Your SO might react in the following ways:
Scorn mockingly.
Break up with you.
Be awkwardly silent for over five minutes.
Or hopefully smile and ask for more clarification.
Whatever the outcome, continue to explain yourself in this
fashion: (And it’s all true by the way!)
The universe is gigantic! Enormous! Bigger than the mind can
comprehend. We live in a galaxy called Milky Way Galaxy. But our galaxy is just
ONE of billions and billions and billions of other galaxies that are in space.
Imagine that vastness!
For me, it’s quite insane and fascinating to think that
there’s this massive space that existed before earth and will continue
to exist (maybe infinitely) after the destruction of earth.
But to make this captivating concept visual, pretend you are
the only person left on this planet. All seems OK so far, I mean you don’t have
to deal with humans anymore, but unfortunately earth is about to be sucked into
a blackhole (and at this point we haven’t moved to Mars or any other habitable
planet). Now also pretend that you can launch yourself into space and out of
earth’s devastating orbit. Which you do.
Everything you once knew as life and living is gone but
space continues to exist. In this gigantic realm, you will be floating around
for who the hell knows how long; it could be eternity! Think about that for a
second. Will you float in space forever because of its enormity? Where is the
starting point and ending point of the universe? How big is the universe really?
(Also note that the Universe has been and is expanding at a rate.)
And imagine the different likelihoods along the way. You may
meet a parallel universe, a replica of yourself, aliens...or even humans
because if we managed to form ourselves on earth out of the big bang, maybe
another planet far, far, far away was able to do that as well. Right?!...(What
do you curious minds think you would encounter deep in space?)
The point is, the Universe is HUGE and unexplored with many
variable possibilities and our scientists calculations and notions that it’s infinite
(this theory comes from the universe having no spatial curvature) and that we
can only learn the tip of the iceberg about space, is extremely intriguing and
mysterious!
If you still with me, this all brings me back to stars.
Stars are composed mostly of hot (like really HOT) helium and hydrogen gases,
which are the two lightest elements. After a process involving a lot of energy
and heat, photons (light particles) from stars then travel in a straight line
(unless they encounter anything) through the vacuum of space. Now remember when
I mentioned how huge the universe is?
Light travels at a
whopping speed of 300 000Km per second. Considering that rapidness you would
think that the light from the stars would reach our eyes in say…uhmm…twenty
minutes the most? An hour? Maybe if you adventurous enough you would think two
days.
Nuh -uh!
It can take YEARS!
(Ok before I rant on any further, note
that our nearest star, the sun, takes 8 minutes for its light to reach
us, which means we are seeing the sun as it was 8 minutes ago.)
A light year is known as the distance light travels.
With stars, we may encounter seeing a star, for example that
was 4 light years away. Meaning that that star was shining 4 years ago, and the
light is only reaching us now! This is because the universe is so incredibly
large that light can take years to travel!
There are other stars that are older, maybe 20 or 40 light
years away that reach us only in our current time. So, every time we see stars,
we are viewing them from the past. Imagine that awesome piece of knowledge! Of
course, we may never get to travel back in time, well not in this day and age
technically speaking, but stars do give us a glimpse into that magical wonder
known as time travelling.
There are also a few stars that shine through to us that may
have already died millions of years ago but the light will only reach earth years
and years later, however the possibility of seeing a star that has already died
is rare.
Stars dim quickly with distance so only the most luminescent
of stars from the past would reach our eyes, like Rho Cassiopeiae (8000 – 12000
light years),
Eta Carinae (7500 light years),
Arcturus, (36.7 light years, so if you are 37 years old, this star you would be witnessing now would really be around
the time you were born!),
Sirius (8.6 light years) and many others.
Another enthralling fact is that the Andromeda Galaxy (our
neighbour galaxy, what's up neighbour) is actually 2.5 million light years away! To put some
perspective on this that is the period where the early species of humans
known as Genus Australopithecus existed! (I.e. when we humans looked like
baboons.)
So there you go. Let your SO know that a starry night out is
not just a romantic, sweet, gesture but an indirect delve into a time machine.
I mean it’s one of the most fascinating aspects to know that
the past is not only buried deep in the ground via skeletons, artifacts and
the ocean but many of our questions about time and the past are also wavering within an enigmatic space.
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