Welcome to the universe, the container holding all that you know, don't know and will probably ever know. The scale of this space we call home is seemingly boundless.
Within the universe, there are large groups of stars called galaxies. Galaxies are defined as “any of the very large groups of stars and associated matter that are found throughout the universe” Miriam-Webster, 2017.
Our galactic home is a galaxy is known as the Milky Way this is where our solar system is located at the center of which is our sun.
Labeled Representation of the Milky Way Galaxy
Here are a few facts about the Milky Way:
• The Milky Way grows over time by merging with and acquiring stars from other galaxies
• Although everything might seem relatively stable in our experience here on Earth, the Milky Way is not stationary and is zooming through space at about 343 miles per second.
• There is what scientists identify as a super-massive black hole at the center of our galaxy. It is commonly referred to as Sagittarius A*. It contains the mass of about 4.3 million Suns. –Space Facts, 2017
There are eight planets in our solar system. In order of closest to the sun to furthest they are:
• Mercury
• Venus
• Earth
• Mars
• Jupiter
• Saturn
• Neptune
• Uranus
Excluded from this is the formerly ninth planet, Pluto which is now classed as a dwarf planet.
Now, physical sciences are mostly concerned with the world around us that we can perceive with our five senses, what we can touch, taste, see, smell and hear. The planets identified above are observable from earth and have been watched and studied by numerous civilizations over thousands of years of human history.
The science of this observation is called Astronomy and it deals with not only the planets but stars, asteroids, comets and other celestial bodies.
Ancient astronomers could tell the planets different from stars as stars tend to stay in fixed positions over the centuries but planets moved noticeable distances over relatively short periods of time.
Modern astronomers stare at the heavens with high powered optical and radio wave telescopes that bring us breathtaking imagery of what exists in the great distances that our naked eyes cannot perceive. Amazing instruments such as the Hubble Space Telescope pictured above
Allow us to observe the stars from outer space, it was launched into orbit on April 24, 1990 onboard the space shuttle Discovery.
Through observation and exploration of space these scientists have made discoveries and gained insights that have immensely benefitted mankind through technological advancements and breakthroughs.
Check out my next post for more information about the heavens. We’ll look into some ideas that the ancients had about the stars and throughout this series get more info about the marvelous heavenly bodies that share the solar system with us.
