The world is full of science and facts( If that makes any sense). SO, Guys In this article we’ve collected some fascinating science facts throughout the Internet that will blow your mind.
1. If you stand in the sunlight for one second, 20 trillion neutrinos (a type of elementary particle) will pass right through your head without hitting a single atom. In fact, the same thing will happen even if you stand in the shade.
Most of these neutrinos will pass right through the Earth and continue traveling onward to galaxies so distant that their light hasn’t yet reached the Earth.
Neutrinos are so small we don’t even know their size. Their mass is estimated to be one-millionth of an electron.
Yet, these tiny, mysterious particles outnumber electrons, protons and neutrons in our universe by a factor of about 10 billion to one.
Unlike other particles, neutrinos travel in straight lines, so if we trace their trajectory we can determine where they came from.
This is exactly what scientists at the IceCube South Pole Neutrino Observatory did when they mapped the course of a single neutrino arriving from outer space in September 2017.
Astronomers traced the trajectory of the neutrino back to a massive black hole at the center of a galaxy 3.7 billion light-years away.
(picture credit: Icecube/NASA)
Since neutrinos travel at or near the speed of light, this specific neutrino must have started its journey from the black hole slightly before the origin of life on Earth.
2. While we are on the topic of black holes, did you know there is a supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy, the Milky Way?
It’s located here, at Sagittarius A*, 26,000 light-years from Earth:
In fact, astronomers have calculated that there is a black hole at the center of most, if not all galaxies. A black hole seems to be an essential element of a galaxy.
3. Do galaxies create black holes? Or do black holes create galaxies?
Previously, astronomers assumed that galaxies create black holes by accumulating enormous amounts of matter at the center of the galaxy due to gravity.
But some recent evidence suggests that the reverse might be true. Black holes might actually be responsible for the creation of galaxies.
Some black holes have a relativistic jet that ejects matter like the neutrino detected by the IceCube Observatory.
Evidence suggests that black holes interact with the surrounding matter via their relativistic jet, potentially creating stars and galaxies in the process.
This is certainly an interesting finding and may require us to rethink our understanding of the formation of the universe.
Here is an actual photo of a relativistic jet of matter ejected from the black hole at the center of the Messier 87 galaxy, as observed by the Hubble telescope:
The line of matter you see in this image is 4,400 light-years long (41.6 quadrillion kilometers).
4. While we are on the topic of distance and light-years, did you know there are 33 stars within only 12.5 light-years of planet Earth?
The closest star is Proxima Centauri, at a distance of only 4.2 light-years (40 trillion km).
Believe it or not, this distance could be navigable by human technology.
The Voyager 1 space probe, which was launched by NASA in 1977, has already left our solar system and has traveled 22 billion km.
It is on its way to star AC +79 3888, which is much further away than Proxima Centauri. Granted, you and I won’t be alive when it gets there, but human civilization will still be around.
Here are the current locations of the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 probes in relation to our solar system:
Despite traveling non-stop for the past 42 years, these probes are still in communication with NASA’s Deep Space Network, which can issue them basic commands and receive data from them.
While human interstellar travel is the stuff of science fiction and is extremely unlikely, the possibility remains that in the far distant future, humans might find a way to travel such distances, and might even find a reasonably hospitable planet in a nearby star system to start a new colony for human life before our Sun begins to expand and die.