Can you believe we are in there, somewhere?
As even amateur nerds know, light travels at 186,000 miles per second. Much faster then even my Dad's car. :)
The Moon is 1.3 light seconds away from Earth.
The sun is 8.5 light minutes away.
Saturn is 84 light minutes away.
Pluto is 250 light minutes away.
Now here's the wild part...
The next sun beyond ours is 4.2 light years away.
I really like the name of this cluster of stars -- The Dumbbell Nebula. Named because the disc-like shape reminds the eye of a dumbbell (not because the nebula is dumb). If it was dumb, we'd never know it, because it's a thousand light years away.
The Blinking Eye Nebula probably sees the light of the Dumbbell nebula the same time we do because it's two thousand light years away.
The Bug Nebula and the Red Spider Nebula are four thousand light years away.
The Rotten Egg Nebula and the Boomerang Nebula (I kid you not) are five thousand light years away.
Moving right along, the Black Eye galaxy is 17 light years away from our fists, but it got beat-up anyway.
The tadpole Galaxy hasn't quite found its way out of the pond. In fact, it's 420 million light years away from the nearest known pond.
Finally I leave you with Hubble Ultra Deep Field Galaxies -- the most distant galaxies known. Formed when the universe was a mere eight hundred million years old. An infant compared to it's present age of more than thirteen billion years old.
If we could get our hands on the Hubble Ultra Deep Field Galaxies, would we figure out a way to turn them into the Hubble Ultra Deep Fried Galaxies? Traveling long distances does make us hungry.
Thanks to my Dad to turning me onto all the weird names and inserting some of his weird humor.
Unlike a lot of the things humans say, everything I just wrote is true!
Here's looking at you, kid...
Regards,
From the Red Eye Nebula:
4 comments:
Wow!!!!!
Ha! Ha! Ha! You managed to teach me something new....and Um.....I didn't know...um....remember any of this!! And you made me laugh!! ^_^ Makking me laugh while at the same time teaching me some science is a pretty good trick! hats off to you and dad!! Have a good rest of the weekend!!
:D Who thinks up those names? I like the Rotten Egg Nebula... does it look like one?
Abby :D
#1- You are a great, intelligent, wonderful kid, keep being curious! Plus, you clearly have a great dad who loves you. That being said, the photo of the "Red Eye Nebula" as you call it, is NOT real IS it? There is NO WAY you didn't photoshop it or in some other way make it look more like an eye. I just can't believe it! Please be serious when it comes to science, because people may begin to doubt all of it. Sure, have a sense of humor, but make it clear when you are joking. I could be wrong too, please tell me, email kinags@att.net! PULEEEZZZ!? I don't want to lose my mind over this. Plus, I've always wondered how they make these images show up at all since space id supposed to be totally dark. I guess they use filters and other stuff too complicated for me to understand, but you may TRY to explain it if you have the time. I'm a 48 yr. old woman, disabled nurse, with a little AA degree. I;ve always been fascinated by these images! Thanks, Kina.
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