The universe is full of mysteries, including vast voids that occupy space between visible matter, with some voids stretching millions of light-years across. The Milky Way galaxy is part of a larger group of galaxies that rotate around a gravitational center, and our local group of galaxies orbits within the Virgo supercluster, which is being pulled towards the Great Attractor.
In space, sound waves can travel through particles and atoms, and NASA has detected a low-frequency sound from a galaxy with a black hole at its center. The universe is also home to dark matter, which makes up around 84.5% of the total matter and affects gravity, but is invisible to us.
Space exploration has led to numerous technological innovations that benefit people on Earth, such as camera sensors, flexible circuits, artificial limbs, scratch-resistant glass, and water purification systems. These advancements demonstrate the value of space exploration and its potential to improve life on our planet.
Additionally, scientists are working on developing a new navigation system called X-nav, which uses signals from pulsars to navigate through space. This technology could revolutionize space travel and exploration.
1. Some voids in space, called super voids, can be millions of light-years across.
2. The Boötes void is 250 million light-years of almost nothingness.
3. Only 60 galaxies have been found within the Boötes void.
4. A space that large could easily contain 10,000 galaxies.
5. If an alien civilization exists on a planet within one of these galaxies, the nearest neighbor would be tens of millions of light-years away.
6. Magnetars are extremely magnetic neutron stars.
7. The magnetic field of a magnetar would strip you of all metallic objects within 400 kilometers.
8. If you got really close to a magnetar, it would eventually start ripping out the iron in your red blood cells.
9. There's a correlation between the distance and size of the Sun and our Moon.
10. The Moon is 400 times smaller than the Sun, but the Sun is 400 times further from the Earth than the Moon.
11. The Andromeda galaxy is 2.5 million light-years away.
12. If we could see all of Andromeda, it would be several times larger than the Moon.
13. The days on Venus are longer than a Venusian year.
14. Venus completes an entire orbit around the Sun in a little more than 224 Earth days.
15. Venus takes 243 days to rotate around its own axis.
16. Sound cannot travel in a vacuum, but space is not a total vacuum.
17. Space contains particles and atoms and gases that sound can use as a medium to travel through.
18. NASA used a sensitive microphone to detect sound from a galaxy with a black hole at its center.
19. The sound produced is the lowest note in the universe, 57 octaves below middle C.
20. The frequency of the sound is more than a million billion times deeper than the limits of the human ear.
21. In 1962, the US detonated a hydrogen bomb in space, 1,000 times more powerful than the bomb that hit Hiroshima.
22. The project was called Project Starfish, and it was done to see what happened.
23. Another project, called Project A119, had the goal of detonating a nuclear bomb on the Moon.
24. Fortunately, Project A119 never actually took place.
25. Scientists are working on a navigation system called XNAV that uses signals from pulsars.
26. Pulsars are dense, rapidly rotating stars that sweep their emissions across the cosmos.
27. The timing property of pulsars is perfect for stellar navigation.
28. The XNAV system would have an accuracy of between 5 to 10 kilometers.
29. The technology to create such a device is not quite here yet, but it will likely be developed in the near future.
30. The most recent calculations show that as much as 84.5% of the total matter in the universe could be dark matter.
31. Dark matter is something that cannot be seen, but it affects the gravity around us.
32. A good analogy for dark matter is wind, which cannot be seen but can be detected by its effects.
33. Space exploration has led to the invention of many technologies that benefit people on Earth.
34. Examples include active pixel sensors, flexible circuits, artificial limbs, scratch-resistant glass, athletic shoes, space blankets, and water purification systems.
35. These technologies have improved many aspects of life on Earth, including healthcare, communication, and access to clean water.