Photo by: CWitte Creative Commons Virgo cluster is a group or clusters of galaxies in the universe. The cluster includes approximately 1,300 to 2,000 galaxies. Some are big while 90% of them are dwarf galaxies. These galaxies are attracted to each other by a common gravitational force. The Virgo cluster spans 15 million light years […]
The heliosphere is the protective layer surrounding the sun. It is like a bubble in space that is basically produced by solar winds. Solar wind is composed of particles, ionized atoms and magnetic field. This wind streams off of the Sun at the speed of about 400 km/s. This speed will start to slow down
In astrophysics, a gravitational wave is a wavering or fluctuation in space-time, traveling outwards from the source. In short, it is like a ‘ripple in space-time’, just like the small waves produced by a boat sailing through a sea. This is caused by large, moving celestial bodies such as stars and black holes. The more
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Water is an important element to sustain life. In order for a certain planet to support existence, it has to have liquid water on its surface. For this to be possible its effective surface temperature must be above the freezing point of water. A star like sun can provide energy radiation enough to maintain this
A lot has been said about the Big Bang event that is believed to have created the universe about 13.7 billion years ago. The Big Bang event draws its conclusion of the expansion of the universe because of the red-shifting light that are seen from distant galaxies and clusters of galaxies. However, aside from the
The stars you see at night can possibly be illusions, or that they are not as many as they actually are. This happens through a process called gravitational lens or gravitational lensing. It is also one of the consequences of Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity. A celestial object, for example a quasar, that is
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In defining a plane, you can describe it as a flat two-dimensional surface. But how could a not perfectly co-planar Milky Way have a plane? Galaxies are normally irregular in shape. In space or in a galaxy, a plane is described as where most of the galaxy’s mass lies. It is then called the galactic
The general meaning of the word inclination is the angle between a reference plane and another plane or axis of direction. When it comes to astronomy, it is defined as a measure of the tilt of a certain planet’s orbital plane in relation to that of Earth.
We know of galaxies as massive systems of stars and other interstellar objects bound together by gravity, such as the Milky Way our solar system belongs to. Think of a galaxy as an entire human body. The earth is the universe, organ systems inside the human body are solar or planetary systems, and their respective
When a person thinks of a telescope, he may subconsciously attach other words to it, words like planets, the sky or the solar system. But even Hans Lippershey – the person associated with the invention of said device in 1608 – may not have been aware that the simple telescope can be taken into a
