Outer Space & Universe
Outer Space & Universe
Space, also known as outer space, is the near-vacuum between celestial bodies. It is where everything (all of the planets, stars, galaxies and other objects) is found.
On Earth, space begins at the Kármán line (100 km above sea level). This is where Earth's atmosphere is said to stop and outer space begins. This is not a firm boundary but is a convention used by scientists and diplomats.
Items in space are free to move back and forth; up and down; and left and right. These three dimensions are what make 3D space. Items also move forward through time, which is sometimes called the fourth dimension.
The majority of space contains very little matter and so most of it is a vacuum. Scientists do not know how big space is but we do know that space is extremely big, and is always expanding.
According to the big bang theory, all matter and energy in the Universe was compressed into a very small space. Then it exploded and started expanding. Space is still growing in size today; this means the distance from one galaxy to distant galaxies is getting longer.
Gravity is the force that keeps the Moon in orbit around the Earth and the planets in orbit around the Sun. Gravity can stretch and bend space similar to how a heavy ball placed on a stretched sheet of rubber will cause the rubber to stretch. The scientist who discovered that space can bend is named Albert Einstein. How gravity bends space is part of his theory of general relativity.
Astronauts, Cosmonauts, Taikonauts and Spationauts
An astronaut is any person who is trained by NASA to travel and perform tasks in space. Although the space traveler may not necessarily be a United States citizen, each astronaut does go through a rigorous training regiment by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Other space travelers go by other names then astronaut depending on their country of origin.
In the United States, astronaut is derived from the Greek words ástron (star) and nautis (sailor). While, in Russia, a space traveler goes by the name космонавт (English: cosmonaut), which is derived from the Greek words kosmos (universe) and nautis (sailor). Westerners call a space traveler from China a taikonaut, based on the 1998 writings of Chiew Lee Yik and Chen Lan where the term tàikōng (great emptiness), Chinese for “space”. In China, the term yuháng yuán (universe navigator) is used for space traveler.
Only the United States of America (United States), Russia (earlier, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics), and the People’s Republic of China (China) have sent manned spacecraft into space. Other countries have assisted these countries by sending their own space travelers on space missions. For instance, a French space traveler is called a spationaut (from the French word spationaute), which is derived from the Latin spatium (space) and Greek nautis (sailor). (plural in Greek nautes = sailors)
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09:16
New Solar Cycle 25 Sunspot! CME! and Comet Y4 Atlas at 8.7 Magnitude!
Added 338 Views / 0 LikesI love the Heavens.God Bless everyone,T LEWISON5430 BIRDWOOD RD. #416HOUSTON TEXAS 77096https://www.paypal.me/THORnewshttps://venmo.com/TEric-Lewison$THORnews on CashApphttps://www.patreon.com/thornews
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00:20
Two Views of the Gas in the Southern Ring Nebula (NIRCam and MIRI Composite Images)
Added 96 Views / 0 LikesThe NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope offers dramatically different views of the same scene! Each image combines near- and mid-infrared light from three filters from the Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) and Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI).Shown first is
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01:28
New planet detected around closest star to Sun, it's 'ultralight'
Added 200 Views / 0 LikesA planet has been detected orbiting Proxima Centauri with ESO's Very Large Telescope. It's " one of the lightest exoplanets ever found," according to the European Southern Observatory (ESO).Credit: ESO
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00:26
Red and Green 'Christmas' Auroras Light Up Skies Over Sweden | Video
Added 811 Views / 0 LikesChad Blakley (lightsoverlapland.com) grabbed his camera on Christmas Day 2013 and captured the festive Northern Lights above the frozen shore of Lake Torneträsk in Abisko National Park.
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01:18
So You Want to Go to Mars? Episode 2: What Does it Take to be a NASA Hero?
Added 362 Views / 0 LikesThere are many heroes at NASA, and they’re not just astronauts. In this episode of “So You Want to Go to Mars?” we take a special behind the scenes look at spaceflight and discover the heroes that are solving the major challenges of our space missions tod
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01:13
Saturn’s Moon Habitable? Molecular Hydrogen Found in Encel
Added 542 Views / 0 LikesSaturn’s Moon Habitable? Molecular Hydrogen Found in Encel
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03:48
Watch the first Space Shuttle launch and land on the 40th anniversary
Added 205 Views / 0 LikesThe STS-1 mission launched NASA astronauts John W. Young and Robert Crippen into space for a 54.4 hour, 36 orbit test flight of Space Shuttle Columbia on April 12, 1981. -- Casio's new digital watch marks 40 years since first space shuttle launch: https:/
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09:06
Blastoff! SpaceX launches 23 Starlink satellites from Florida, nails landing
Added 59 Views / 0 LikesA SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched 23 Starlink satellites from Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 11:00 p.m. EST on Dec. 2, 2023 (0400 GMT on Dec. 3). [Full Story](https://www.space.com/spacex-starlink-launch-group-6-31)"The Falcon 9's first s
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01:34
Danger on the SpaceX launch pad! Emergency egress rehearsed
Added 319 Views / 0 LikesLaunch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, currently being used for SpaceX launches, has emergency egress tech to get astronauts away from the rocket as quickly as possible if there is an emergency. - Take a wild ride with SpaceX in this 'emergenc
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Starlink Mission
Added 83 Views / 0 LikesSpaceX is targeting Saturday, December 17 for a Falcon 9 launch of 54 Starlink satellites to low-Earth orbit from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The instantaneous launch window is at 4:32 p.m. ET (21:32 UTC).The fir
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08:37
Red Alert! Enhanced Risk & Warning Impact Matrix Upgrade for Storm situation in the USA & Europe
Added 165 Views / 0 LikesIt's going to be a very storm 48 hours for parts of Earth.God bless everyone,T LEWISON5430 BIRDWOOD RD. #416HOUSTON TEXAS 77096https://www.paypal.me/THORnewshttps://venmo.com/TEric-Lewison$THORnews on CashApphttps://www.patreon.com/thornews
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03:57
Pluto 'Up-Close' Coming Soon: Spacecraft's Historic Encounter | Video
Added 734 Views / 0 LikesNASA's New Horizon spacecraft left Earth in 2006 and is quickly approaching its fly-by of the icy dwarf plant and its moons. Its closest approach will occur on July 14th, 2015.
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03:03
Listen to the Vibrations of the Sun in New NASA Video
Added 375 Views / 0 LikesStanford Experimental Physics Lab has turned data from the ESA/NASA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) into sound and now you can listen to the “Sun’s natural vibrations,” according to NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. -- Full Story: https://www
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01:38
Antarctica’s Growing Ice Shelf Crack Monitored From Space | Video
Added 500 Views / 0 LikesAntarctica’s Growing Ice Shelf Crack Monitored From Space | Video
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07:04
Ingenuity helicopter flies on Mars!! See the first pic & video
Added 222 Views / 0 LikesThe Ingenuity helicopter has completed its first flight on Mars on April 19, 2021. See the first image and video acquired by NASA from the flight. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
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08:08
See the Artemis 1 spacecraft's fiery Earth re-entry in amazing time-lapse
Added 44 Views / 0 LikesThe Orion spaceraft from NASA's Artemis 1 mission re-entered Earth's atmosphere on Dec. 11, 2022 after its successfull mission around the moon. See 25 minutes of re-entry and parachute footage time-lapsed to 8 minutes here.Credit: Space.com | footage cour
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03:17
Is the Universe NOT expanding uniformly in all directions? X-ray study
Added 343 Views / 0 LikesNASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and ESA's XMM-Newton have been used to study the Universe and the results call into question how it is expanding. -- Surprise! The universe's expansion rate may vary from place to place: https://www.space.com/universe-expa
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12:03
Vega C rocket fails to deliver Pleiades Neo satellites into orbit
Added 87 Views / 0 LikesEurope's Vega C rocket launched on its second-ever mission from Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana on Tuesday at 9:47 p.m. EST (10:47 p.m. local time; 0247 GMT on Dec. 21). The rocket failed to deliver the Pléiades Neo 5 and Pléiades Neo 6 Earth-