Outer Space & Universe
Outer Space & Universe
Space, also known as outer space, is the near-vacuum between celestial bodies. It is where everything (all of the planets, stars, galaxies and other objects) is found.
On Earth, space begins at the Kármán line (100 km above sea level). This is where Earth's atmosphere is said to stop and outer space begins. This is not a firm boundary but is a convention used by scientists and diplomats.
Items in space are free to move back and forth; up and down; and left and right. These three dimensions are what make 3D space. Items also move forward through time, which is sometimes called the fourth dimension.
The majority of space contains very little matter and so most of it is a vacuum. Scientists do not know how big space is but we do know that space is extremely big, and is always expanding.
According to the big bang theory, all matter and energy in the Universe was compressed into a very small space. Then it exploded and started expanding. Space is still growing in size today; this means the distance from one galaxy to distant galaxies is getting longer.
Gravity is the force that keeps the Moon in orbit around the Earth and the planets in orbit around the Sun. Gravity can stretch and bend space similar to how a heavy ball placed on a stretched sheet of rubber will cause the rubber to stretch. The scientist who discovered that space can bend is named Albert Einstein. How gravity bends space is part of his theory of general relativity.
Astronauts, Cosmonauts, Taikonauts and Spationauts
An astronaut is any person who is trained by NASA to travel and perform tasks in space. Although the space traveler may not necessarily be a United States citizen, each astronaut does go through a rigorous training regiment by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Other space travelers go by other names then astronaut depending on their country of origin.
In the United States, astronaut is derived from the Greek words ástron (star) and nautis (sailor). While, in Russia, a space traveler goes by the name космонавт (English: cosmonaut), which is derived from the Greek words kosmos (universe) and nautis (sailor). Westerners call a space traveler from China a taikonaut, based on the 1998 writings of Chiew Lee Yik and Chen Lan where the term tàikōng (great emptiness), Chinese for “space”. In China, the term yuháng yuán (universe navigator) is used for space traveler.
Only the United States of America (United States), Russia (earlier, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics), and the People’s Republic of China (China) have sent manned spacecraft into space. Other countries have assisted these countries by sending their own space travelers on space missions. For instance, a French space traveler is called a spationaut (from the French word spationaute), which is derived from the Latin spatium (space) and Greek nautis (sailor). (plural in Greek nautes = sailors)
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Zoom into NGC 1333
Added 148 Views / 0 LikesAstronomers are celebrating the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope’s 33rd launch anniversary with an ethereal photo of a nearby star-forming region, NGC 1333. The nebula is in the Perseus molecular cloud, and is located approximately 960 light-years away.Thi
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Zoom Into NGC 2276
Added 182 Views / 0 LikesThis video showcases a zoom into the galaxy NGC 2276, a spiral galaxy 120 million light-years away in the constellation of Cepheus.More information and download options: http://esahubble.org/videos/heic2106a/Credit:ESA/Hubble, NASA, Digitized Sky Survey 2
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Zoom into NGC 3256
Added 145 Views / 0 LikesThis video takes the viewer on a journey through space to the peculiar galaxy NGC 3256.This distorted galaxy is the wreckage of a head-on collision between two spiral galaxies which likely occurred 500 million years ago, and it is studded with clumps of y
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Zoom into NGC 5068
Added 99 Views / 0 LikesThis video takes the viewers on a journey to the barred spiral galaxy NGC 5068, whose bright central bar is visible in the upper left of this image. NGC 5068 lies around 17 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Virgo.With its ability to peer
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Zoom Into Pandora’s Cluster
Added 127 Views / 0 LikesAstronomers estimate 50 000 sources of near-infrared light are represented in this image from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope. Their light has travelled through various distances to reach the telescope’s detectors, representing the vastness of
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Zoom into planet forming 'twist' observed by Very Large Telescope
Added 479 Views / 0 LikesThe European Southern Observatory's (ESO) Very Large Telescope has been used to observe the star AB Aurigae. A detailed look using the telescopes SPHERE instrument has revealed "a ‘twist’ that marks the site where a planet may be forming," according to ES
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Zoom Into Protostar L1527
Added 126 Views / 0 LikesThis video zooms in towards the protostar L152 to reveal the object as seen by the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope, embedded within a cloud of material that is feeding its growth. Material ejected from the star has cleared out cavities above and b
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Zoom into Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex
Added 135 Views / 0 LikesThis video takes the viewer on a journey through space to the Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex. From our cosmic backyard in the Solar System to distant galaxies near the dawn of time, the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope has delivered on its promise of r
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Zoom into the Cartwheel Galaxy
Added 157 Views / 0 LikesThis video takes the viewer on a journey that zooms through space to reveal the Cartwheel Galaxy. This image of the Cartwheel and its companion galaxies is a composite from Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) and Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI), which rev
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Zoom into the cosmic seahorse
Added 133 Views / 0 LikesThis video takes a viewer on a journey through space to the latest ESA/Webb Picture of the Month, the cosmic seahorse.Streaks of light and bright arcs betray the presence of a vast gravitational lens in this image. A galaxy cluster in the foreground has m
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Zoom into the Crab Nebula
Added 187 Views / 0 LikesThis video takes the viewer on a cosmic journey to the Crab Nebula.The new image of the object revealed at the end from NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope was captured by the NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) and MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument) instrument
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Zoom into the Horsehead Nebula
Added 205 Views / 0 LikesThis video takes the viewer on a journey through space to reveal a new image from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope, the Horsehead Nebula. This zoom video features three unique views of the Horsehead Nebula, including images from as ESA’s Euclid
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Zoom into the Milky Way's Sagittarius A* black hole! New Event Horizon Telescope image
Added 102 Views / 0 LikesA new image of supermassive black hole Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*). from the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) collaboration "has uncovered strong and organised magnetic fields spiraling from its edge," according to ESO. Zoom into the view here. Credit: ESO/L. Ca
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Zoom Into the Southern Ring Nebula (NIRCam Image)
Added 294 Views / 0 LikesThis video zooms through space to reveal Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) image of the Southern Ring Nebula.The bright star at the centre of NGC 3132, while prominent when viewed by the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Telescope in near-infrared light, plays a
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Zoom Into the Supernova Remnant Expansion 1E 0102.2-7219
Added 260 Views / 0 LikesThis ESA/Hubble video zooms into an expanding, gaseous corpse — a supernova remnant — known as 1E 0102.2-7219. It is the remnant of a star that exploded long ago in the Small Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of our Milky Way located roughly 200 000 li
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Zoom Into the Tarantula Nebula
Added 288 Views / 0 LikesThis video takes the viewer on a journey that zooms through space to reveal the Tarantula Nebula.Thousands of never-before-seen young stars are spotted in the stellar nursery called 30 Doradus, captured by the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope. It i
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Zoom into Webb’s View of the Pillars of Creation
Added 173 Views / 0 LikesThe Pillars of Creation are set off in a kaleidoscope of colour in the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope’s near-infrared-light view. The pillars look like arches and spires rising out of a desert landscape, but are filled with semi-transparent gas a
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Zoom Into Wolf-Rayet 124
Added 152 Views / 0 LikesThis video takes the viewer on a journey through space to one of Webb’s first observations in 2022, the Wolf-Rayet star WR 124, seen here in unprecedented detail.Despite being the scene of an impending stellar ‘death’, astronomers also look to Wolf-Rayet