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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Zoom Into the Supernova Remnant Expansion 1E 0102.2-7219
Added 172 Views / 0 LikesThis ESA/Hubble video zooms into an expanding, gaseous corpse — a supernova remnant — known as 1E 0102.2-7219. It is the remnant of a star that exploded long ago in the Small Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of our Milky Way located roughly 200 000 li
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Zoom Into the Tarantula Nebula
Added 176 Views / 0 LikesThis video takes the viewer on a journey that zooms through space to reveal the Tarantula Nebula.Thousands of never-before-seen young stars are spotted in the stellar nursery called 30 Doradus, captured by the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope. It i
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Zoom into Webb’s View of the Pillars of Creation
Added 106 Views / 0 LikesThe Pillars of Creation are set off in a kaleidoscope of colour in the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope’s near-infrared-light view. The pillars look like arches and spires rising out of a desert landscape, but are filled with semi-transparent gas a
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Zoom Into Wolf-Rayet 124
Added 82 Views / 0 LikesThis video takes the viewer on a journey through space to one of Webb’s first observations in 2022, the Wolf-Rayet star WR 124, seen here in unprecedented detail.Despite being the scene of an impending stellar ‘death’, astronomers also look to Wolf-Rayet
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Zoom of UGC 2885
Added 213 Views / 0 LikesThis video zooms into the gigantic galaxy known as UGC 2885, which may just be the largest one in the local universe. It is 2.5 times wider than our Milky Way and contains 10 times as many stars. This galaxy is 232 million light-years away, located in the
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Zoom on a a part of the Sculptor Dwarf Galaxy
Added 480 Views / 0 LikesZoom on a a part of the Sculptor Dwarf Galaxy
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Zoom on Arp 256
Added 536 Views / 0 LikesThis video zooms in on the two interacting spiral galaxies of the ARP 256 system, about 350 million light-years away. It starts with a view of the night sky, focused on the constellation of Cetus (the Sea Monster), as seen from the ground. It then zooms t
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Zoom on NGC 1052-DF2
Added 346 Views / 0 LikesThis video zooms in from a view of the night sky, through the constellation of Cetus (the Whale), to end on the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope observations of the ultra diffuse galaxy NGC 1052-DF2. This is the first galaxy to be found to not have dark ma
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Zoom-in on LHA 120-N150
Added 283 Views / 0 LikesThis video zooms in on the nebula LHA 120-N150. It begins with a view of the night sky focused on the Large Magellanic Cloud, as seen from the ground. It then zooms through observations from the Digitized Sky Survey 2, which show the whole Tarantula Nebul
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Zoom-in on NGC 3256
Added 367 Views / 0 LikesThis video zooms in on the spiral galaxy NGC 3256, about 100 million light-years away. It starts with a view of the night sky focused on the constellation of Vela (The Sails), as seen from the ground. It then zooms through observations from the Digitized
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Zoom-in on NGC 4485
Added 334 Views / 0 LikesThis video zooms in on the irregular galaxy NGC 4485, about 30 million light-years away. It starts with a view of the night sky focused on the constellation of Canes Venatici (The Hunting Dogs), as seen from the ground. It then zooms through observations
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Zoom-in on the Ghost Nebula
Added 482 Views / 0 LikesThis video zooms in on the emission and reflection nebula IC 63 — nicknamed the Ghost Nebula — about 550 light-years away. It starts with a view of the night sky as seen from the ground. It then zooms through observations from the Digitized Sky Survey 2,
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Zoom: A Spiral Amongst Thousands
Added 98 Views / 0 LikesThis video takes the viewers on a journey into the field of stars and galaxies surrounding the spiral galaxy LEDA 2046648. Webb’s NIRCam instrument has picked out a profusion of smaller, more distant galaxies and bright stars around this galaxy, demonstra
