Have you ever looked at the night sky and
thought how beautiful and vast the universe is? How celestial bodies revolve
in nothingness in the form of stars and planets? For over 40 years now,
mankind's greatest fascination has been with the night sky. We look up and
search beyond our planet to understand various laws of physics, to grasp
everything we can from the universe itself, to understand who we really are.
From discovering new planets to observing objects that might have the ability
to bend time itself, space has never ceased to amaze us. So here are some
interesting and lesser known facts about space:
The light we see from stars in the night
sky is actually many years old. When we see objects on earth, light travels
instantly from the object to our eyes, enabling us to see the object at that
immediate time. However, stars are so far away from us that the time light
takes to reach earth is many hundreds and thousands of years old. If we had the
technology to look at a star further and clearer, we would actually see how the
star looked thousands of years ago (depending on the distance).
The asteroid belt in often depicted in
movies as a cluster of rocks that forms a congested barrier that separates Mars
from Jupiter. While it is true that the belt consists of large amounts of
asteroids that appear congested, it is a misconception that astronauts would
have to navigate their way around it carefully and precisely. The space between
two asteroids is so much that a spaceship can cruise through without any risk
of collision at all, proving once again how vast and enormous space truly is.
The sun appears to be yellow in colour due
to the earth's atmosphere. The sun emits all colours of the spectrum and when
viewed from space, is actually a white shining star.
Early astronauts faced a problem that could
not have been predicted from earth. Moondust was a seemingly insignificant
problem until astronauts realised that it was highly corrosive and even cut
through three layers Kevlar. It also made the joints of the spacesuits rough.
Due to the lack of natural elements on the surface of the moon, the dust is
forever sharp and can cut through anything. The gunpowder like substance made
it very difficult for astronauts to proceed with their missions.
The moon, our satellite, was formed from
earth itself after a huge body collided with our planet millions of years ago.
The moon from then on helped our planet into a stable orbit and was also
responsible for the gravitational waves that formed oceans. If not for the
moon, if not for that collision, life would not have existed on earth. Our
existence is a mere result of various outcomes that we could have never
controlled or even imagine orchestrating.
Orbital debris - man-made objects that
orbit the planet, Is becoming an increasing problem for scientists to tackle.
There are around 6,00,000 objects orbiting the earth and this is a problem
because these objects travel at very high speeds of up 27,000 km/hour. At such
speeds, anything is life threatening. If we don?t find a solution to this
increasing problem, we would have covered the earth in a blanket of garbage,
literally.
The Mars One project is aiming to establish
a permanent colony in Mars. Over 2,00,000 people applied to leave earth and
settle in Mars. 4 carefully selected individuals will be the first ever human
beings to start a life on another planet and every two years, 4 more
individuals will be sent and so on. Every step of the crew?s journey in
establishing a colony will be documented.
It is clear that we are making substantial
progress in space exploration. From putting a man on the moon, sending space
probes all the way to Pluto to get a clear shot of its surface and striving to
look for life on other planets, mankind has truly proved to be the dominant
species on the planet. However, there is so much more in space that we can?t
explain. Scientists have observed strange phenomenon and still can?t explain
what happens on the other side of the black hole. So there are many ways to
look up at the night sky and form an opinion of it. For me, it is mankind's
greatest achievement and also the root of our greatest mysteries.