Redshift

A redshift is an increase in wavelength that is caused by an object moving farther away from us.

Blueshift

A blueshift is a decrease in wavelength that is caused by an object coming closer toward us.

Milky Way galaxy - facts 7

The Milky Way galaxy is expected to collide with the Andromeda Galaxy in a few billion years from now.

Milky Way galaxy - facts 6

The Milky Way galaxy is approximately 13.2 billion years old.

Milky Way galaxy - facts 5

A supermassive black hole may lie at the center of the Milky Way galaxy.

Milky Way galaxy - facts 4

There may be as many as hundreds of billions of planets in the Milky Way galaxy.

Milky Way galaxy - facts 3

The Andromeda Galaxy is the closest spiral galaxy to the Milky Way galaxy.

Milky Way galaxy - facts 2

There are hundreds of billions of stars in the Milky Way galaxy.

Milky Way galaxy - facts 1

The Milky Way galaxy is approximately 100,000 light years in diameter.

Search for extraterrestrial intelligence

You can search for extraterrestrial intelligence by using SETI@home; a free program that downloads and analyzes radio telescope data.

Phobos monolith

The Phobos monolith is a large rock on the surface of the moon Phobos. It measures approximately 280 feet across.

Mars - facts 13

The moon Phobos is larger than Deimos.

Space Shuttles

A total of six space shuttles were built. Enterprise, Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavour.

Neptune - facts 5

The largest moon of Neptune is Triton.

Fermi paradox

The high chances of the existence of extraterrestrial civilizations in the Universe but yet no evidence or contact with humans so far is the Fermi paradox. Fermi's question is "Where is everybody?"

Mars Science Laboratory

The Mars Science Laboratory mission, with its rover called Curiosity, is a Mars rover that was launched on November 26, 2011. It is scheduled to land on Mars at Gale Crater on August 6, 2012.

Interplanetary space

Interplanetary space is the space around the Sun and planets in the Solar System.

Intergalactic space

Intergalactic space is the physical space between galaxies.

Interstellar space

Interstellar space is the physical space within a galaxy that is not occupied by stars or their planetary systems.

Apollo program

The Apollo program were spaceflights that lasted from 1961 to 1972. Some highlights of the program were scientific studies on the Lunar geology, advances in technology, and the first humans landing on the Moon. Apollo 17 was the final mission of the Apollo program.

Moon - facts 8

The Moon is the only celestial body besides Earth that humans have set foot on.

Saturn - facts 7

Saturn has a strange hexagonal shaped cloud pattern near the north pole.

Planets - facts 15

Neptune has the highest winds out of all the planets in the Solar System at over 1,200 mph.

Saturn - facts 6

Winds on Saturn can reach speeds near 1,100 mph.

The Blue Marble

The Blue Marble is a famous image taken in 1972 by the crew of the Apollo 17 spacecraft as they were travelling toward the Moon. The color image shows mostly Africa, and part of Asia, blue oceans, and clouds. The Earth is fully illuminated.

Earthrise

Earthrise is a famous image taken in 1968 by Apollo 8 astronaut William Anders. The color image shows Earthrise; Earth rising above the moon.

Apollo 8

Apollo 8 was a spaceflight launched on December 21, 1968. It was the first human space flight to reach the Moon, orbit it, and return to Earth.

Earth - facts 13

The radius of the Earth is approximately 3,959 miles.

Radius, diameter, and circumference

To do approximate calculations on planets, stars, and moons:

Diameter = 2 x the radius
Radius = half the diameter
Circumference = 3.14 x the diameter

Examples:
If the diameter is 100,000 miles: the radius is 50,000 miles and the circumference is 314,000 miles.

If you only know the circumference, you divide it by 3.14 to get the diameter. So 314,000 miles divided by 3.14 is 100,000 miles.

Solar radius

Solar radius is used to show the size of stars. One solar radius is the radius of the Sun; approximately 432,200 miles.

Sun - facts 14

The radius of the Sun is approximately 432,200 miles.

Butterfly Nebula

The Butterfly Nebula is an image of a planetary nebula in the constellation Scorpius. It was taken by the Hubble Space Telescope in 2009. The image looks like a giant butterfly. The gasses in the nebula are moving at more than 600,000 miles an hour. The "butterfly" is approximately two light years across.

Universe terms - trivia 3

1) Approximately how many miles is one AU?

a) 9 million miles
b) 930 million miles
c) 93 million miles

Check comments for the answer.

Universe terms - trivia 2

1) What is velocity?

a) how fast an object is moving in a given direction
b) how fast an object is moving
c) an object with no movement

Check comments for the answer.

Nova

A nova is a nuclear explosion in a white dwarf star.

Magnetar

A magnetar is a neutron star with an extremely powerful magnetic field.

The Hand

PSR B1509-58 "The Hand" is an image taken by the Chandra X-ray Observatory. It is a pulsar that resembles a human hand reaching out into space. It is approximately 17,000 light years away in the constellation of Circinus.

Chandra X-ray Observatory

The Chandra X-ray Observatory is a space telescope that was launched on July 23, 1999.

Mystic Mountain

Mystic Mountain is an image of a dust and gas pillar in the Carina Nebula. It was taken by the Hubble Space Telescope in 2010. The pillar is seen extending upward and measures three light years in height. This is approximately 18 trillion miles.