Sunday, May 2, 2010
So I'm watching...
So I'm watching the Discovery channel. I usually don't watch T.V. but seeing as we just moved into a place where cable is free, I've been watching it much more frequently. I have to say... the Discovery channel is my favorite channel. Right now, it's "How the Universe Works"... Absolutely incredible. The facts that they throw out to people, not to mention the passion that these scientists feel about the things they discuss is mind-boggling. It really renews my faith in people. For instance, the stars that are at the center of the milky way are moving millions of miles per hour. Keep in mind... These aren't just planets... These are actual Suns. Like our sun. Our closest neighbor galaxy, the Andromeda galaxy, is revolving around a black hole that is millions of times the size of our sun. Our sun is millions of times the size of our Earth. There are some galaxies that are BILLIONS of times the size of our sun. If you don't understand exactly how much that is, you're not alone. The sheer size is astronomical... Literally... (Now you see why they use that term to describe such things). There are theories that at the center of the Universe, there is a ridiculously gigantic super-massive black hole, several billion times the size of our galaxy. If that's the case, according to popular theory about black holes, this particular hole could reduce the matter of the entire universe to the size of a ping-pong ball. And where have we heard that before? The big bang! Imagine if, at the end of our Universe's life, all matter (seeing as matter cannot be created or destroyed, simple changed) is recycled into the original form, and explodes outwards again to create even more life. If that's the case, imagine how many times that has happened before! This could be the 17th cycle of matter. Just think though... If that's the case, and there is a black hole billions of times the size of our galaxy at the center of the universe, and scientists say the universe is still expanding, it will be quadrillions of years before the universe could even begin to think of recycling itself. Far longer than the life-span of our sun. Who knows... Maybe when our sun explodes, it might become a black hole... Not that we'd be alive if that happened... Food for thought I guess. Up next... "Into the Universe with Steven Hawking."
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