There is still so little known about outer space by modern science, but of that little we do know, there are some extraordinarily amazing things. This is a list of the top 10 cool facts about Space.
The oldest and therefore furthest known galaxy we have discovered is over 13.7 billion light years away. It’s called z8_GND_5296. The light has taken so long to reach us that the star which collapsed to form the gas that Sun is made out of wasn’t “born” yet. Galaxies this far away help astronomers understand the very early universe and how it has evolved over time. Due to the expansion of space, the distant galaxy pictured here technically wouldn’t be there anymore and would actually be “currently 13.1 gigalight-years away from us. or 4.0×109 pc.”
Fomalhaut b is a confirmed, directly-imaged first extrasolar object and candidate planet orbiting the A-type main-sequence star Fomalhaut, approximately 25 light-years away in the constellation of Piscis Austrinus. The object was initially announced in 2008 and confirmed as real in 2012 from images taken with the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) on the Hubble Space Telescope and, according to calculations reported in January 2013, has a 1,700-year, highly-elliptical orbit.
Whilst scientists were perusing some data, they noticed a pair of galaxies circling each other. This was not uncommon. What was interesting though was that they noticed there is a highly energetic blast coming from the main parent galaxy and travelling straight at its orbiting companion. They christened the bigger galaxy the “Death Star” galaxy. It is likely that any life that may have existed in the smaller of the two was completely wiped out by this jet.
The distance from the Earth to the moon is sometimes underestimated. The image here shows a more accurate representation of the distance.
1
Oldest Known Galaxy
The oldest and therefore furthest known galaxy we have discovered is over 13.7 billion light years away. It’s called z8_GND_5296. The light has taken so long to reach us that the star which collapsed to form the gas that Sun is made out of wasn’t “born” yet. Galaxies this far away help astronomers understand the very early universe and how it has evolved over time. Due to the expansion of space, the distant galaxy pictured here technically wouldn’t be there anymore and would actually be “currently 13.1 gigalight-years away from us. or 4.0×109 pc.”
2
First Imaged Exoplanet
Fomalhaut b is a confirmed, directly-imaged first extrasolar object and candidate planet orbiting the A-type main-sequence star Fomalhaut, approximately 25 light-years away in the constellation of Piscis Austrinus. The object was initially announced in 2008 and confirmed as real in 2012 from images taken with the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) on the Hubble Space Telescope and, according to calculations reported in January 2013, has a 1,700-year, highly-elliptical orbit.
3
Death Star Galaxy
Whilst scientists were perusing some data, they noticed a pair of galaxies circling each other. This was not uncommon. What was interesting though was that they noticed there is a highly energetic blast coming from the main parent galaxy and travelling straight at its orbiting companion. They christened the bigger galaxy the “Death Star” galaxy. It is likely that any life that may have existed in the smaller of the two was completely wiped out by this jet.
4
Earth to Moon
The distance from the Earth to the moon is sometimes underestimated. The image here shows a more accurate representation of the distance.
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