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Discussion
PSBuckshot said:
Yes it is sir.
Or if you're not Brian Cox (which I'm not) just read what everyone else puts.
In that case.Or if you're not Brian Cox (which I'm not) just read what everyone else puts.
The largest star known is " VY Canis Majoris ". If you positioned the star in place of our sun , then the surface of the star would be past the oribit of Saturn.
The most luminous ( brightest ) star known is " R136a1 ". It is about 8,500,500 times brighter than our sun. It is also the heaviest known star by mass. it weighs between 265-320 times that of our sun.
The " Milky Way " galaxy is about 100,000 light years in diameter and contains about 400 billion stars.
"Space," it says, "is big. Really big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mindbogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist's, but that's just peanuts to space, listen..."
It is known that there are an infinite number of worlds, simply because there is an infinite amount of space for them to be in. However, not every one of them is inhabited. Therefore, there must be a finite number of inhabited worlds. Any finite number divided by infinity is as near to nothing as makes no odds, so the average population of all the planets in the Universe can be said to be zero. From this it follows that the population of the whole Universe is also zero, and that any people you may meet from time to time are merely the products of a deranged imagination
It is known that there are an infinite number of worlds, simply because there is an infinite amount of space for them to be in. However, not every one of them is inhabited. Therefore, there must be a finite number of inhabited worlds. Any finite number divided by infinity is as near to nothing as makes no odds, so the average population of all the planets in the Universe can be said to be zero. From this it follows that the population of the whole Universe is also zero, and that any people you may meet from time to time are merely the products of a deranged imagination
HowMuchLonger said:
If we see a planet that is 15m light yrs away, then what we can see is what it looked like 15m years ago. Is there any way of telling what the universe looks like now?
I'm not sure.. I've always read that the size of the *visible* universe is 14.5 Billion light years across, but never really known how to put that into perspective.Does it mean there's a known "invisible" universe beyond the boundary that we'll never see, or just means that's all we know there is.. etc..
But yea.. the universe.. amazing
Mike Rob said:
Really good article in the Times yesterday re the universe, especially Kepler 22B.
I love that story and how every time I see it mentioned on TV everyone always says the same thing, "Why did they call Earths twin Kepler 22B? That's rubbish!"Even though it really doesn't matter, it totally winds me up! I want to educate people about what we're discovering out there, I asked some of my GCSE kids the other day how many other planets we had discovered so far. Not one of them guessed over 100.
Max_Torque said:
"Space," it says, "is big. Really big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mindbogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist's, but that's just peanuts to space, listen..."
It is known that there are an infinite number of worlds, simply because there is an infinite amount of space for them to be in. However, not every one of them is inhabited. Therefore, there must be a finite number of inhabited worlds. Any finite number divided by infinity is as near to nothing as makes no odds, so the average population of all the planets in the Universe can be said to be zero. From this it follows that the population of the whole Universe is also zero, and that any people you may meet from time to time are merely the products of a deranged imagination
I like this theory, but can you please stop imagining all the damn idiots I have to put up with everyday? It is known that there are an infinite number of worlds, simply because there is an infinite amount of space for them to be in. However, not every one of them is inhabited. Therefore, there must be a finite number of inhabited worlds. Any finite number divided by infinity is as near to nothing as makes no odds, so the average population of all the planets in the Universe can be said to be zero. From this it follows that the population of the whole Universe is also zero, and that any people you may meet from time to time are merely the products of a deranged imagination
erdnase said:
Jandywa said:
Gravity is a pathetic force!
You need something as massive as the earth to give a force of approximately 10 newtons.
The way I heard it described is that a gravitational pull from something the size of the earth can be counteracted by the electromagnetic bonds of a bit of ground.You need something as massive as the earth to give a force of approximately 10 newtons.
IE, imagine falling out a window. You're being accelerated due to the gravitational pull of the (huge) earth, yet the electromagnetic bonds between the concrete on the ground stops you almost instantly (and painfully).
R300will said:
To illustrate Jandywa's point even more, if you hold two little magnets together off the ground the entire earth cannot pull one from the other.
Nicely put!As an aside, if anyone has an Android phone, Google Skymap is a free app that overlays the stars / constolations on your camera, like augmented reality. I love it.
ewenm said:
PSBuckshot said:
I'd like to know what everything looked like before the universe was created.
Can't even begin to imagine anything at all.
Sounds like you've got it right. Unknowable is as good as it gets for "before" the big bang.Can't even begin to imagine anything at all.
I find it frustrating that we know so little.
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