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snooper2

(30,151 posts) Tue Apr 26, 2016, 11:47 AM Apr 2016

25 Strange Things About The Universe

Published on Apr 26, 2016
The universe we live in is a pretty remarkable place. And yet, we've only scratched its surface. From black holes thousands of times the mass of our Sun to galaxies crashing together in violent collisions, we live in an active and exciting universe. In this list, we've dug up plenty of the lesser-known facts and phenomena in the universe (strange things about the universe if you will). What unites them all is that they are generally unexpected or surprising. And most you've probably never even heard of. For instance, did you know it can take 100,000 Earth years for light to move from the core of the Sun to its surface? Or how about that it would take 74,000 Earth years to reach our next closest star? Or how about the possibility of an extraterrestrial radio transmission in 2012?

Whether you're a space junkie or just a science fiction fan, there's plenty on this list of strange things about the universe to capture your interest. From the temperature of the Sun to the origin of comets to the music soundtrack humanity sent out to the stars in case other lifeforms find our space probes, put on your spacesuit and blast into these 25 Strange Things About the Universe.

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25 Strange Things About The Universe (Original Post) snooper2 Apr 2016 OP

Kick JohnnyRingo Apr 2016 #1

Here's another astronomical fact: SheilaT Apr 2016 #2

JohnnyRingo

(18,636 posts)

1. Kick

Reply to snooper2 (Original post)

Tue Apr 26, 2016, 12:18 PM

Apr 2016

Thanx for posting!

SheilaT

(23,156 posts)

2. Here's another astronomical fact:

Reply to snooper2 (Original post)

Tue Apr 26, 2016, 01:39 PM

Apr 2016

Our galaxy, the Milky Way, has about 300 billion (yes, billion with a b) stars in it. Our nearest galactic neighbor, Andromeda, is some three times large, a trillion stars altogether. As I'm sure most of you already know, the two galaxies are on a collision course, and will collide in about 4 billion years or so. There's some pretty interesting videos to be seen if you google "collision between Milky Way and Andromeda."

I have a son who's a budding astronomer, and I recently asked him when the collision of the two galaxies occurs, about how many stars will actually crash into each other. He said that of course they can only estimate at this point, but probably no more than ten. That says more than anything else just how vast interstellar distances are.

As a footnote, there's evidence that our galaxy has already merged with others in the distant past. Apparently, it is in the nature of galaxies to merge.

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