Do you want more knowledge about the universe and life?

British spelling.

I find the knowledge gained about the Universe and life amazing.

..........

Comets, Lonely Space Travellers.

Photo by Lukáš Vaňátko on Unsplash

Comets are celestial objects in our Solar System that contain dust, rocks, and ice. They orbit the Sun in highly elliptical (oval-shaped) paths.

As they get closer to the Sun, they warm up and release gases and other debris. This outgassing produces a coma, sometimes called a tail.

In 1986 my two young children and I watched the most famous short-period comet, Halley, as it made its closest approach to the Sun on its long journey through space.

There’s a chance that my children will see it again. In 2023 in an area further away than planet Neptune it will turn around and start on that long trek back towards the Sun, arriving here in 2061.

Depending on when you were born, some people will see comet Halley twice, I saw it once, but will never see it again.

..........

We Are Very Much Alike.

Image credit, Francesco Ungaro, Unsplash

You, me, and every other human alive today share about 99.9% of the same DNA (Deoxyribonucleic Acid). That slight difference of 0.1% is what makes us a little bit unique.

Chimpanzees are the closest relatives we have in the animal kingdom. They share almost 99% of our DNA and surprisingly, the common garden slug shares 70% of our DNA.

We even share 50% of our DNA with one of our most popular fruits, bananas. Yes, every living organism on our planet is related.

It’s widely believed that all living organisms have evolved from a common progenitor through mutations in their DNA. The result of this 3.5 billion-year-old process is the biodiversity of species we see worldwide today.

..........

The most distant traveller.

Image credit, Jeremy Thomas, Unsplash

The space probe Voyager 1 left the Earth in 1977, two weeks after its twin Voyager 2.

Voyager 1 continues to travel through space at over 60,000 kilometres per hour and is the most distant man-made object that has ever left our planet.

To us, that speed seems very fast, but to put it into perspective.

Imagine if Voyager 1 were to change direction and travel towards Sagittarius A* the black hole at the centre of our galaxy, the Milky Way. That epic journey would take roughly 450 million years.

As of November 2022, that small probe is over 23 billion kilometres from Earth.

Chances are that Voyager 1 will still be travelling through space as the last human on Earth dies.

I wonder if, in the distant future, another intelligent life form will discover our tiny probe.

..........

Gazing up at the night sky.

Image credit, Herrmann Stamm, Unsplash

When viewing the night sky, you’re looking back in time.

Reflected light from the Moon left its surface 1.3 seconds before it made contact with your eyes.

The Sun is almost 150 million kilometres from the Earth, so light leaving the Sun takes over eight minutes to reach us. You’re seeing the Sun as it was just over eight minutes ago.

Now, take the farthest away object that you can see with your own eyes. That light from the Andromeda galaxy that you are seeing now, left on its long journey 2.5 million years ago, so you are seeing the galaxy as it was way back then.

From the surface of our planet, we can see roughly 2,500 stars on a clear night.

By the way, the speed of light is 1,080 million kilometres per hour. Wow!

End of article.

..........

You might enjoy reading some of my easy-to-understand articles regarding the Universe and Life. Free reads.