Showing posts tagged universe
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The human race is just a chemical scum on a moderate-sized planet, orbiting around a very average star in the outer suburb of one among a hundred billion galaxies. We are so insignificant that I can’t believe the whole universe exists for our benefit. That would be like saying that you would disappear if I closed my eyes.
Stephen Hawking (via crookedindifference)
(Reblogged from crookedindifference)
npr: Dark Matter, Dark Energy And The Shadow Universe Many folks have heard of Dark Matter and Dark Energy. Most folks, however, can’t tell you anything about them. They’re dark. They’re lurking out there. That’s about it. They’re too important to leave it at that. So, let’s look at the “whys” and “wherefores” of the Dark Duo. With today’s post, I’m going to begin this exploration with a simple fact and its cosmic (literally) interpretation. Let’s start with a very important distinction. Dark Matter and Dark Energy have nothing (as far as we know) to do with each other. The only thing they have in common is that evocative adjective “dark,” which, for astrophysicists, simply means we can see an effect but we can’t see the cause. -Adam Frank

npr:

Dark Matter, Dark Energy And The Shadow Universe

Many folks have heard of Dark Matter and Dark Energy. Most folks, however, can’t tell you anything about them. They’re dark. They’re lurking out there. That’s about it.

They’re too important to leave it at that. So, let’s look at the “whys” and “wherefores” of the Dark Duo. With today’s post, I’m going to begin this exploration with a simple fact and its cosmic (literally) interpretation.

Let’s start with a very important distinction. Dark Matter and Dark Energy have nothing (as far as we know) to do with each other. The only thing they have in common is that evocative adjective “dark,” which, for astrophysicists, simply means we can see an effect but we can’t see the cause. -Adam Frank

(Reblogged from npr)
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Two possibilities exist: Either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying.
Sir Arthur C. Clarke (via crookedindifference)
(Reblogged from crookedindifference)
fuckyeahtheuniverse: This is an image of Earth and the moon, acquired on October 3, 2007, by the HiRISE camera on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. At the time the image was taken, Earth was 88 million miles from Mars. View high resolution

fuckyeahtheuniverse:

This is an image of Earth and the moon, acquired on October 3, 2007, by the HiRISE camera on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. At the time the image was taken, Earth was 88 million miles from Mars.

(Reblogged from fuckyeahtheuniverse)
the-sprawl: wandermust: I’ve been looking for this word all my life. me too View high resolution

the-sprawl:

wandermust:

I’ve been looking for this word all my life.

me too

(Reblogged from the-sprawl)
crookedindifference: Valles Marineris, Mars View high resolution

crookedindifference:

Valles Marineris, Mars

(Reblogged from crookedindifference)
crookedindifference: This is a mosaic image, one of the largest ever taken by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope of the Crab Nebula, a six-light-year-wide expanding remnant of a star’s supernova explosion. Japanese and Chinese astronomers recorded this violent event nearly 1,000 years ago in 1054, as did, almost certainly, Native Americans. View high resolution

crookedindifference:

This is a mosaic image, one of the largest ever taken by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope of the Crab Nebula, a six-light-year-wide expanding remnant of a star’s supernova explosion. Japanese and Chinese astronomers recorded this violent event nearly 1,000 years ago in 1054, as did, almost certainly, Native Americans.

(Reblogged from crookedindifference)
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When my husband died, because he was so famous & known for not being a believer, many people would come up to me — it still sometimes happens — & ask me if Carl changed at the end & converted to a belief in an afterlife. They also frequently ask me if I think I will see him again. Carl faced his death with unflagging courage & never sought refuge in illusions. The tragedy was that we knew we would never see each other again. I don’t ever expect to be reunited with Carl. But, the great thing is that when we were together, for nearly twenty years, we lived with a vivid appreciation of how brief & precious life is. We never trivialized the meaning of death by pretending it was anything other than a final parting. Every single moment that we were alive & we were together was miraculous — not miraculous in the sense of inexplicable or supernatural. We knew we were beneficiaries of chance… That pure chance could be so generous & so kind… That we could find each other, as Carl wrote so beautifully in Cosmos, you know, in the vastness of space & the immensity of time… That we could be together for twenty years. That is something which sustains me & it’s much more meaningful…

The way he treated me & the way I treated him, the way we took care of each other & our family, while he lived. That is so much more important than the idea I will see him someday. I don’t think I’ll ever see Carl again. But I saw him. We saw each other. We found each other in the cosmos, and that was wonderful.
Ann Druyan, on the passing of her husband, Carl Sagan (via afghanibanani)
(Reblogged from rumagin)
View high resolution
(Reblogged from fuckyeahtheuniverse)
futurejournalismproject: This is the universe. Feel free to call it home. Via the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics: [Wednesday], astronomers unveiled the most complete 3-D map of the local universe (out to a distance of 380 million light-years) ever created. Taking more than 10 years to complete, the 2MASS Redshift Survey (2MRS) also is notable for extending closer to the Galactic plane than previous surveys - a region that’s generally obscured by dust. Pictured above: Panoramic view of the entire near-infrared sky reveals the distribution of galaxies beyond the Milky Way. The image is derived from the 2MASS Extended Source Catalog (XSC)—more than 1.5 million galaxies, and the Point Source Catalog (PSC)—nearly 0.5 billion Milky Way stars. View high resolution

futurejournalismproject:

This is the universe. Feel free to call it home.

Via the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics:

[Wednesday], astronomers unveiled the most complete 3-D map of the local universe (out to a distance of 380 million light-years) ever created. Taking more than 10 years to complete, the 2MASS Redshift Survey (2MRS) also is notable for extending closer to the Galactic plane than previous surveys - a region that’s generally obscured by dust.

Pictured above: Panoramic view of the entire near-infrared sky reveals the distribution of galaxies beyond the Milky Way. The image is derived from the 2MASS Extended Source Catalog (XSC)—more than 1.5 million galaxies, and the Point Source Catalog (PSC)—nearly 0.5 billion Milky Way stars.

(Source: futurejournalismproject)

(Reblogged from futurejournalismproject)