The Universe
This section will cover things that are outside of our
solar system.
See the next page
for pictures of some of the things discussed here.
The reader should realize that our knowledge of things
that lie outside the boundaries of our solar system is gained by indirect means,
and that we by no means have a conclusive understanding of those regions.
The universe is incomprehensibly vast. It
contains within it millions of galaxies, some of which are smaller than our own,
and some of which are larger. We do not know if it is infinite or not; we
may never know. Surely, we cannot yet see the edge of the Universe.
However, humanity has postulated that the amount of energy in the universe must
not be infinite. Of course, we have postulated incorrectly in the past...
The Universe is thought to have begun roughly 10-20
billion years ago (we think). Current theories speculate that all matter
as we know it was emitted from a single point at that time, in a spectacular
explosion. Space is apparently still stretching itself as a result of this
event.
We have named our galaxy 'The Milky Way' for some
reason; it is likely roughly typical with respect to other galaxies we can
observe in the dim, distant past. On interstellar scales, the light that
we see is very old, proportional to the distance it had to travel. Even
from our own Sun, it takes roughly nine minutes for light to travel to our
planet.
At every level of the physical universe we see
organization. From the smallest subatomic particles which form atoms,
atoms to form planets and stars, stars to form galaxies in the giant swirling
arrangement, and galaxies arranged in sheets and strings? What
significance, if any, should we find in this fact?
We have not visited any solar system outside of our
own, even with robot probes. Yet. Although humanity does not yet
hold the right technological keys to make such travel possible, I believe that
it is only a matter of time.