Something is brewing in the kitchen…
The Milky Way, our home galaxy, is big. So big. There are no adjectives that can describe just how enormous it is, and pure numbers do it no better justice. But consider the following analogy. Our first broadcast radio signals began leaking out into space about 75 years ago, and this ‘radio bubble’ has been growing at the speed of light ever since. Now to appreciate just how large this expanding bubble is in its own right, know that it took only a second for it to travel all the way to the moon. Yes, the orbit of our moon is a but a second to the lifetime that is this ‘radio bubble’. So, how big is our Milky Way galaxy in comparison? Well, if this ‘radio bubble’ were the size of a baseball, the Milky Way would stretch from one end of the infield to the other. Our voice in the cosmos has not traveled far at all. In fact, it hasn’t even left the pitcher’s mound.
Astronomer Scott Ransom shares the Photopic Sky Survey on NBC’s Rock Center.
The likely Higgs discovery this week overshadowed another one witnessed on a vastly different scale: tendrils of dark matter.
Not far from the tail of the scorpion lies the ‘War and Peace Nebula’. Enjoy the ride.
Starstruck: The Fine Art of Astrophotography is now open to the public. Read what Sky and Telescope has to say about it.
With the passing of Venus last night, so too goes visionary novelist Ray Bradbury at 91. If he had to go, I doubt he’d have it any other way. http://arts.nationalpost.com/2012/06/06/reports-ray-bradbury-dead-at-91/
Venus in transit!
Transit of Venus
Watch a rare Venus transit at 6PM EST. You’ll have to wait over a century for the next one!
Dragon docks to the ISS! A new chapter in space flight has begun. Congratulations to SpaceX!
