“Space Facts are the best facts” – Einstein (probably)
Responses
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In 1915, Einstein publishes his initial theory of general relativity, which only has dynamic solutions (either the universe is expanding or contracting). In 1917, he adds the cosmological constant Λ to his theory to allow for static solutions (the universe is fixed in size). He would later describe in 1931 this decision as his greatest blunder, when he accepts the universe is expanding and that Λ is zero due to observations from Hubble. It turns out that his greatest blunder was thinking that his introduction was a blunder, as more recent cosmological data suggests Λ is small but positive (non-zero), and is at the heart of the contradictions in unifying General Relativity and Quantum Mechanics.
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The sun is 1.3 million times larger in volume than the earth.
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Did you know that the giant dust cloud at the heart of the Milky Way tastes like raspberries (aka ethyl formate)???????
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Update to this!! We’ve discovered a simple sugar erythrulose (a natural sugar that is found in trace amounts in raspberries) is produced in the dust cloud! Which is crazy because apparently in the past we’ve struggled to understand how simple sugars occurred in such abundance on earth (Read more at the Guardian — “Space jam: astronomers detect ‘raspberry sugar’ on dust cloud in Milky Way”)
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Earth is 4.54 billion years old!
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A black hole is in fact not black, it is colorless. They appear black because they absorb all light that hits them and they emit no light of their own. They are invisible to the naked eye.
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A laser pointer shot at the moon makes a spot that is miles wide!
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Quasars are some of the brightest objects in the universe, powered by supermassive black holes. The brightest known quasar is 500 trillion times more luminous than the sun!!
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Stars twinkle (scintillate) due to atmospheric refraction, where as planets shine on with little to no disturbances. Planets, being closer, have broader light beams that are not destabilized by Earth’s atmospheric turbulence. (Wikipedia) Scintillation effects are always much more pronounced near the horizon than near the zenith (directly overhead)!
Gives a whole new meaning to Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, ay?
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Triton is the largest moon of neptune
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Update on the raspberry comment — we’ve discovered that a natural sugar erythrulose found in trace amounts in red raspberries is actually in the dusty could near the heart of the Milky Way. Which is CRAZY because apparently we’ve struggled for a long time to understand how simple sugars become so prevalent on Earth! Read more at the Guardian: “Space jam: astronomers detect ‘raspberry sugar’ on dust cloud in Milky Way”
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