Stargazing LIVE with Prof Cox - Part 2

Hey Hey all you happy people ^_^

So as you know, 

Yesterday I watched Stargazing & it was FAB, 

So naturally I had to watch it again tonight.

Here's a little something to listen to while you're reading ^_^
Quite fitting I think hehe

First off we'll go with the Milky Way :)

The Milky Way is the Galaxy that contains out Solar System

All the stars that can be seen in the night sky

are part of the Milky Way galaxy, but for the purposes of the astronomical activity of observing the celestial sphere the term "Milky Way" is limited to the hazy band of white light arching around the entire night sky.

The light originates from un-resolved stars & other material that lie within the galactic plane. Dark regions within the band, such as the Great Rift and the Coalsack, correspond to areas where light from distant stars is blocked by dark nebulae.

 The galaxy has it's appearance because of the Earth's position within the galactic plane. The concept of this faint band of light being made up of stars was proven in 1610 when Galileo Galilei used his telescope to resolve it into individual stars. In the 1920s observations by astronomer Edwin Hubble showed that the Milky Way was just one of around 200 billion galaxies in the observable universe, 

(Sorry, but that is just totally mind blowing)

The Milky Way is a barred spiral galaxy 100,000-120,000 light-years in diameter containing 200–400 billion stars. The galaxy is estimated to contain at least as many planets, 10 billion of which could be located in the habitable zone of their parent star. Depending on its structure the entire galaxy has a rotational rate of 1 per 15 to 50 million years. The galaxy is also moving at a rate of 552 to 630 km per second depending on the relative frame of reference. It is estimated to be about 13.2 billion years old, nearly as old as the Universe. The Milky Way is part of the Local Group of galaxies.

Okey Dokey, next up is Black Holes, a lot of people don't think they exist as you can't see them, but they're there & they scare the shit outta me, not that we'll ever see one, well . . . I sure as F**k hope we don't hehe, it's just what they can do that scares me I think

A black hole is a region of space time from which nothing, not even light, can escape. The theory of general relativity predicts that a sufficiently compact mass will deform spacetime to form a black hole. Around a black hole there is a mathematically defined surface called an event horizon that marks the point of no return, (Brain overload much hehe). It is called "black" because it absorbs all the light that hits the horizon, reflecting nothing, just like a perfect black body in thermodynamics. Quantum mechanics predicts that black holes emit radiation like a black body with a finite temperature. This temperature is inversely proportional to the mass of the black hole, making it difficult to observe this radiation for black holes of stellar mass or greater.

They also covered UFO's

I know this isn't one :P

Where some, could, after investigation, be legit, there is also other explanations for these 'Sightings' It could be Satellites, water drops, planets or even secret Military Planes. Of the first sightings that were reported, the shapes of the UFO's were circular, but after time, & when the Military un-veiled the Stealth Bomber, a lot of the sighting's shapes, became triangular.

The satellites & planets that could be mistaken, could be orbiting the earth & catch the sun for 10-15 seconds and therefore, reflect it down to us, that's all it takes to think that the object has just flicked across the sky as you would believe a UFO has. 

Either way, us humans still remain very partial in our belief or non belief as to whether UFO's really do exist, gotta say even though they said a lot of the sightings were from what they call, reputable sources, i'e. police, pilots, military personnel & not just drunks that were leaving the pub & saw them on the way home, they made a pretty good arguement that most sightings could be explained, but that's a whole new can of worms to be opened hehe :))))