Wednesday, June 24, 2009

The universe is a big place.....


Not sure this post has much relevance, but it is an astounding thing that I was reminded of last night....and certainly not unrelated to Maria's last post. I was watching this documentary on TV on a phenomenon called "Gamma Ray Bursts." GRB's, as they are called, are apparently usually caused by the death of massive stars right before the stars collapse into becoming black holes. The picture included here is an artist's rendition from Wikipedia of a GRB. Scientists have been trying to unravel the mysteries of GRB's for the last several decades and say that most GRB events happen at an average distance of about 6-8 billion light years from earth. One light year is equivalent to about 5.8 trillion miles.....so that's 6-8 billion multiplied by 5.8 trillion! And the expanse of the known universe is much larger than even these unfathomable distances. I don't know, but contemplating the immensity of all of this stuff blew my small mind. I'm thankful to all the smart folks who figure this stuff out and share it with the rest of us-truly amazing.

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