Astronomy

Astronomy is the study of stars and other Heavenly Bodies like Planets etc. The role Astronomy in our lives plays an important part. Where are we in the universe? We live on Earth, the third planet of our solar system. Our solar system is located in the Milky Way Galaxy, a collection of 200 billion stars (together with their solar systems). The Milky Way Galaxy is located in a group of 30+ galaxies we call the Local Group. The Local Group is a part of a local supercluster of 100+ galaxies (called the Virgo Supercluster). This supercluster is one of millions of superclusters in the universe. If I am able to answer the above question, then this is due to Astronomy and it’s related studies.
One cannot really imagine the interesting and shocking facts the space agencies are discovering on daily basis. The black holes are one interesting bodies in the space. If you could look out from inside a black hole, you would be able to see the entire universe in one small patch of the sky- including the back of your own head. Carl Sagan, a well-known physicist once said, “The Cosmos is within us, we are made of star stuff. We are a way for Cosmos to know itself.” And it’s a fact, recent studies show that 90% of your body mass is in fact stardust, because all the elements except hydrogen and helium are created in stars.

According to new best estimate of the Astronomers, 275 million new stars are born everyday. And the stars that shine in the sky at night, are probably dead many million years ago but there light reaches the Earth now in present. This fact is elaborated with much greater detail in the book of Stephen Hawking, A Brief History of Time. Stephen Hawking is another one of the most brilliant minds in the 21st Century. And some say, including myself, that if there is any genius after Einstein, then it is Stephen Hawking. Stephen was diagnosed with ALS, a form of Motor Neurone Disease, shortly after his 21st birthday. In spite of being wheelchair bound and dependent on a computerised voice system for communication Stephen Hawking continues to combine family life (he has three children and three grandchildren), and his research into theoretical physics together with an extensive programme of travel and public lectures. He still hopes to make it into space one day.

Here are some photos containing interesting facts, so it is an infotainment.