Wonders of Grandiosity

The Wonders of Grandiosity

Galaxy (immense conglomeration of stars, planets and other cosmic bodies orbiting a center of a denser cluster). 

As Star Trek: The Next Generation Captain Jean-Luc Picard used to say, space is the last frontier. Science fiction fascination with the Cosmos is well signified in the popular media by such popular franchises as Star Wars, Star Trek and Stargate. Notorious sci-fi writers include Isaac Azimov (Three Laws of Robotics), Clarke (2001: Space Odyssey), Orwell (1984) and Huxley (Brave New World), among others.

Aside from captivating authors’ minds, the Universe has likewise attracted the interest of scientists. Astrophysics, astronomy, planetary science, astrochemistry and astrobiology all deal with the stars and the sky. Coversely, astrology is an art, largely nonscientific predictions of one’s future (such as the horoscope) based, however, on factual positioning of stellar objects at the moment of one’s birth or during particular events.

Solar System planet Saturn, easily recognizable by its characteristic rings. Photo in public domain

Astrophysics lectures are available online, thanks to the open learning project. Many prestigious universities participate, including Harvard, Yale and Columbia Universities.The lecture was posted online with several others as part of an open learning project. Several other outstanding universities offer free courses online.

The ether is approximately 74% black energy, 22 black matter, and 4 stars, planets, comets, intergalactic gas and debris combined. No one is yet certain as to what black energy is, paradoxically, since it is by far the largest component.

Graphical presentation of Cosmic components. Graph: Copyright © Elena

Television sitcom the Big Bang Theory, starring Jim Parsons, takes its name from the notion that everything came to be due to a blast. According to the Hubble telescope and contrary to Albert Einstein’s static universe concept, the whole is still expanding.

The largest star in the world as we know it is VY Canis Majoris. By scalar comparison, our Sun, an average star, is but a tiny dot next to it. The again, there are many giants and hypergiants in between (Arcturus, Aldebaran, Cephei, etc.). The proportions from moon to the superstar are beautifully portrayed by the German science magazine Wissens in an amazing video from German Science Magazine Wissen ‘Our Small World’ (Unsere Kleine Welt). As a brief aside, despite proposed grammatical reforms, all nouns continue to be capitalized in German).

Jupiter, the largest planet of our Solar System, consisting entirely of gas. Interestingly, the spot seen in the picture above represents a storm. Photo source: public-domain-image.com

Before Pluto lost its planetary status, there were 9 planets in the Solar System. In order, they orbit the center: Mercury, Venus, Mars, Earth, Jupiter, Neptune, Saturn, Uranus, and Pluto.

Copyright © Megan Jorgensen (Elena) 2011. All rights reserved.