Blogger: CelesteBlaze

"We have calcium in our bones and iron in our veins

We have carbon in our souls, and nitrogen in our brains.

93 percent stardust with souls made of flames

We are just stars that have people names."

‒ Nikita Gill

This previous verse seems like something taken straight out of a science fiction novel, doesn't it? To be somehow composed of the same material by which the entire cosmos is drafted is something that can only be possible in the realms of fiction. However, as much as our brains want to disprove it, this is an actual scientific fact, found in 1951 by Paul Willard Merill. There are tons of other interesting facts such as this about the infinite universe, and some of them are highlighted here.

Following up on the first fact, we have something dealing with the more theoretical aspect of space. Did you know that the universe is constantly expanding, and somehow, someway it will lead to the ultimate death of it? There are three ways the universe can end, the most probable being something called the Big Crunch. The Big Crunch is basically when the universe reverses in on itself, like a crunched up paper ball. This will revert the universe back to how it started, causing the cosmic scale to reach back zero. This simply means that all the changes that have happened will restart themselves, and it begins all over again. Slightly scary, isn't it?

Let's move on to something more light-hearted. There are many different types of stars, as all of us know. One of them is neutron stars, which are extremely dense and very small stars which are known Little Green Men (LGM). This is because they send out radio signals as they spin (why they are also known as pulsars) which when they reach Earth as faint and pulsating. And here comes the best part, the first time that scientists heard it, they thought they were messages from aliens! That's why they're named LGMs, probably giving scientists a tiny laugh whenever they're referred to.

Now, this next fact is really fascinating and a bit terrifying. Apparently, some galaxies are cannibals and eat up other smaller galaxies to increase their size! The event usually ends in the destruction of the existent planets in the smaller galaxy, and a space massacre in general. And the worst bit is that our neighbour galaxy Andromeda is suspected of being a cannibal, as it has a double center, which may be the remains of another galaxy. If it really is so, it's bad news for us, cause it inches 200 km closer to the Milky Way every second! Yikes!

Now, keeping in mind all the cannibal galaxies and pulsating stars, how do astronauts spend 3-4 years in space? They of course undergo serious training at their respective institutions, but even the best training can't defeat the mysteries and gaping wonders of space. So, most man-carrying shuttles are designed with a robotic arm, to grab and bring any suspicious object on board, or throw it out into the cosmos as required. Cool, right?

And with that very movie-esque fact, we come to an end for this blog post. All this information is just the tip of the iceberg for space-related mind-blowing discoveries. And there is still the ice sheet of discoveries to come. What else is waiting for us in this infinite universe? 

References:

William Harris "How the Big Crunch Theory Works" 2 March 2009.
HowStuffWorks.com. <https://science.howstuffworks.com/dictionary/astronomy-terms/big-crunch.htm> 5 June 2022

American Institute of Physics On the Origins of "We Are Stardust" 23 June 2016.

"Space" (2012) by Parragon Publishing