Showing posts with label Cosmos. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cosmos. Show all posts
VOYAGER - 1
 |
| Voyager 1 |
Voyager 1 is a space probe drifting through the vast, dark and never ending realm in the heavens. One cannot imagine the distance it has traveled,the silence it has observed and how lonely it has been for the past 36 years. YES! 36 YEARS...
Why would you want to know about it? NASA has sent out so many probes... how'd you be benefited from knowing about Voyager 1 ? Basically, what makes Voyager so special?
Speaking on it's "importance"... Voyager isn't just any ordinary probe which collects information and sends it back to our Planet Earth. It is an element of our presence in this universe(at least the Solar System). The probe is out there to make our presence felt! That there are HUMANS living somewhere, that we are more than just curious to know what's out there and that we want to know if we humans have any "neighbor(s)". The probe has provided us with such valuable information and some mind-boggling images that will make you ponder about our EXISTENCE!
Why would you want to know about it? NASA has sent out so many probes... how'd you be benefited from knowing about Voyager 1 ? Basically, what makes Voyager so special?
- THE STORY OF VOYAGER 1
This extra-ordinary piece of equipment(then) was launched by NASA. It was manufactured by JPL or Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The probe weighs about 722 kilograms.The intent was to explore the far reaches of our Solar System which is 1 light years across. The space probe sends data to and receive commands from the Deep Space Network[DSN]. The space probe has flown by Saturn , Jupiter and many and has encountered many other celestial object. Launched on 5th September 1977 the space-probe has been collecting data day-and-night since 36 years,6 months and 6 days(as of 11th March 2014). I don't think it'd be wrong to say that Voyager-1 is our "Cosmic Representative".
Speaking on it's "importance"... Voyager isn't just any ordinary probe which collects information and sends it back to our Planet Earth. It is an element of our presence in this universe(at least the Solar System). The probe is out there to make our presence felt! That there are HUMANS living somewhere, that we are more than just curious to know what's out there and that we want to know if we humans have any "neighbor(s)". The probe has provided us with such valuable information and some mind-boggling images that will make you ponder about our EXISTENCE!
- The Pale Blue Dot
 |
| The Pale Blue Dot by Voyager 1 |
That is "us"! Everything around you, and on this planet,is that hardly visible point in the frame! That is OUR Planet Earth.... Feel very small right? Voyager 1 took this AMAZING picture on 14th February 1990 from a staggering distance of about 6 Billion Kilometers(3.7 billion miles) Orbiting our star , the Sun within the deep darkness of the space. But the "pond-creatures" I wrote about in my first post still don't care to THINK about it, our existence and our uniqueness! This isn't the view from outside our Solar System or some very far-away place. If we're so "insignificant" on this scale, what would our importance be on a galactic level? HOW much there is to explore! The million dollars you possess is nowhere compared to this spectacle. Now think how small our sphere of thought is?!
- The Sounds Of Earth
 |
| The Sounds of Earth on Voyager 1 |
The crew behind the space probe Voyager also had something else in their mind. They wanted this probe to make our presence felt wherever it goes. So, they mounted a vinyl record containing almost most musical notes, languages, diversity,etc present on our Planet. It has images, natural and artificial sounds of the diversity on Earth. It's an attempt to make the extra terrestrial life(if any) provide information about our planet and ourselves beforehand. The possibility of this happening is almost negligible. But that's what makes us humans,we don't just give up! We hope for the "best" or at least try to! The space probe is supposed to work until 2025 when it will stop generating enough power for it's components which would certainly be a depressing moment in the lives of those who were behind the project. Because this is the probe that represents us in the vast cosmic "ocean" out there. The ocean we haven't ever physically voyaged. This Voyager, the creation of us human beings is our HOPE . It's our eyes to view the distant stars and stellar beauties.
— U.S. President Jimmy Carter The Blog Post was inspired by Cosmos : A Space-Time Odyssey hosted by Neil deGrasse Tyson. |
PILLARS OF CREATION
 |
| Pillars of Creation (Source - Wikipedia/NASA) |
- What are the "Pillars Of Creation" ?
- Why is it important?
- Really that far?
- So big?
- Is it dead?
What are the "Pillars Of Creation" ?
>>>> The "Pillars Of Creation" is an incredibly wonderful thing! It's a photograph taken by the renowned Hubble Telescope in the year 1995. The location of this image is 7,000 light years from Earth and located in the Eagle Nebula.(Yes, it's Seven Thousand Light Years!) It's nothing but just a multi-colored picture of a gigantic cloud gas and dust. Curious why it's "Pillars Of Creation" then? This very cloud of gas and dust is where the stars come to BIRTH! This is one of the many,many nurseries of stars out there! Yes, Stars are formed in such visually beautiful places... The basic composition of these gas pillars is cool molecular Hydrogen. This wasn't taken in just one picture. 32 different images from 4 different cameras were used to form the above image. Due to the magnified lens of the cameras, the stair shaped pattern at the top right was formed. Wonder why it's so colorful? The green light is due to Hydrogen, red being from Sulfur which was singly-ionized and blue is from the doubly-ionized Oxygen atoms.
 |
| Herschel Observatory Image |
Why is it important?
>>>> The Pillars are of great important for cosmological studies about the conditions,elements,space required for the Birth Of Stars.The Nebula is located about 7,000 light years but still can be viewed from a decent telescope in your backyard! Till date, the pillars have provided the space researchers with essential information regarding the birth of various types of stars. Also, astronomers haven't been able to detect quite a lot of "nurseries" located at such distance. It was a remarkable achievement for the scientists when the Pillars of Creation was pictured. The location of this Nebula might not be at an ideal location from Earth but is enough for researchers to get the required data. Scientists were not able to study the formation of stars until the Pillars were found by Jeff Hester and Paul Scowen then at Arizona State University. The iconic pillars have been a subject of interest since detected!
 |
| Image from Observatory located on Earth (Pillars in the middle) |
Really that FAR ?
>>>> These Pillars are located at a distance of about 7000 light years from Planet Earth. Wanna know how far that is? Then let's do some calculations first ...
1 Light Year = 9.4605284 × 1015 meters
= 9.4605284 × 1012 kilometers
so, it's approximately about 9.4 with 12 zeros after it. Imagine how much would it be for 7000 Light-Years! You do the math!
Seriously that Big ?
 |
| Source - FQTQ |
First, take a look at the picture >
Look carefully and you'll see a small finger-like image at the top of this pillar. Can you imagine how vast is it? Well, it's the size of our solar system!!! I guess "befuddled" would be the correct word to express anyone's brains situation after reading that.
The pillars are so long that the measure is not expressed in millions or trillions of kilometers but Light Years! This pillar is the left most pillar and is approximately 4 light years in length.
Again, we're gonna do some basic calculations,
There's 60 seconds in a minute and 60 minutes in an hour. And then there are 24 hours in a day. 365 days in a month and the length is 4 years(sounds funny right?) and the last; 299,792 i.e. the speed of light.
60 X 60 X 24 X 365 X 4 X 299792 = 37816962048000 Km.
or
37 Trillion 816 Billion 962 Million 48 Thousand Kilometers :)
Now that's just the size of these "giants". Remember the calculation we previous made about the relation between 1 Light Year and Km's? Try to apply that hear and be ready to face what I say, "moments of cosmic numbness". Moving on then...
So, it's DEAD ?
 |
| Maybe Dead? (Source - FQTQ) |
Whenever you look at the sky every night, everything you see is the past! All of it! It may be some seconds,hours,days and even thousands of years..but the PAST. Back to our topic, see the red gas in the image above? That's the gas in that cosmic region heated up due.The reason for this is a spectacular yet calamitous event, a supernova. Supernova is an exploding star,one of the most amazing events of our Universe. Theories suggest that the shock-waves formed due to the supernova may have damaged or knocked down the Pillars of Creation. This event is supposed to have happened at least 6000 years ago. The pillars being at 7000 light years is the reason why we haven't seen it yet. This means that Earth would be able to see this devastation about 1000 years from now. The Earth-lings then would see these pillars fall apart and annihilated by the extreme shock waves of the supernova. They will know that the even happened a long time ago,but it'd still be a miserable and disheartening moment!
As FQTQ say "We are merely spectators,relegated to the lowly role of simply watching and trying to make sense of the cosmos."
We must feel privileged to be able to witness such wonders happening around us! We can't do anything but watch the chaos around us and how it brings order to itself, our Universe.That is the beauty of our Cosmos!
Enjoy everything you see above and around you, because it's there after a long struggle! The Universe made it for you!
Our Wonderful Universe!
Seven billion people live on this planet yet only some of them actually take interest to gaze at the stars at night and think about the vastness that we are a part of.... How lonely are we and why must we consider ourselves unique?! 7 billion people, most trying to just live through their life. Why? Because they're told to. The definition of life for "them" is just making everyone around them happy and earning enough for a comfortable lifestyle. That's it, nothing else..and yes,some recreational activities so that you don't get frustrated. This is how their life starts and ends. They might say that whatever they did in their life made them happy and then give examples of some really interesting and emotional moments they experienced in their lifetime which apparently made them "happy"...but in this "pursuit of worldly happiness" they miss the ACTUAL wonders out there! I don't hesitate to say that they're just some creatures in a pond(no offense).
There's so much to explore, so much to gaze at and soooo much to wonder about! If you just looked at the sky on a clear night and gave it a thought....you would understand our uniqueness and the incredible cosmic realm we're a part of. The depths to which you would go about thinking while gazing at those twinkling stars is immeasurable. Everything out there has an incredibly long story behind it,mostly a tragic one. The stars, the cosmic clouds, and even the light from them that's reaching you! You'd be shocked to know that everything that you're seeing above you happened a few light years to a hundred light years ago... Now that's fascinating right? Does it mean that one of the stars you're looking at might not be twinkling right now? Yes! That's a considerable possibility!
Some of these "pond creatures" might expand their thinking and may wonder about the planet Earth. Thus, they thank the nature and feel blessed to be living in such conditions. BUT! Ever thought about the iron in your blood? The gold jewelry that you own? The silicon in your electronic equipment's? You might not know and possibly be shocked to know that all of it once burst out through a "dying star". A star that formed due to the cosmic clouds that you gaze at, the star that shined most of its lifetime, the star that lived a BILLION years...yes, that STAR! And then the star died...but gave you such precious elements. The blood running through your veins is STARDUST! So think a million times before hurting yourself because a star died for you.You are made of something that caused a star to explode..that's IRON! You are wonderful, you are unique, you are a STAR!(figuratively)
There are so many things out there which would befuddle you extremely! So much to see that you would stop going to art galleries but just use a telescope(not that art works aren't wonderful,they are!) This COSMOS will never cease to amaze you with it's "ever-lasting artwork".There's so much going on out there that you're a part of but still,some prefer to ignore it and lead on with their "earthly-life".Still choose to ignore it? No? Then..
GO OUT!
GAZE AT THE SKY!
FEEL WONDERFUL!
FEEL UNIQUE!
why? Because,
You're PART OF A WONDERFUL UNIVERSE!
