Omg Yes This Is It - This Is The Unified Theory Of Everything - Einstein Was Just A Lion The Whole Time!

I am always surprised when a young man tells me he wants to work at cosmology. I think of cosmology as something that happens to one, not something one can choose.

Sir William McCrea

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Omg that’s hilarious xD

Cuz the way the second equation is written assumes that the c^2 in the mass-energy equivalence equation is actually the c^2 from the Pythagorean Theorem when it’s actually just the speed of light (squared, since c IS the speed of light).

I do love the Pythagorean Theorem though, even though (don’t come after me) I prefer the version where you take the square root of both sides so it’s c = sqrt(a^2 + b^2). It’s just easier!

Nerd rant, over.

(Also, can you imagine Einstein, Hawking, and Neil being friends!? It’s like my dream come true)

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Genius?

That’s how I want the world to end

better than us all getting killed by a pandemic or a nuke

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On November 12, 1833, there was such an intense meteor shower that it was possible to see up to 100,000 meteors crossing the sky every hour. At the time, many thought it was the end of the world, so much that inspired this wood engraving by Adolf Vollmy.

Best Star Wars movie can’t deny it

Prequels and sequels eat your heart out

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The Empire Strikes Back opened in theaters on this day in 1980.

THE LIFE OF A STAR: CLASSIFICATION

In order to understand the life of a star, we must understand star classification.

        And there are SO many different ways to classify a star.

        In star classification, understanding the relationship between color and temperature is crucial. The greater the temperature of the star, the bluer they are (at their hottest, around 50,000 degrees Celcius), while red stars are cooler (at their coolest, around 3,000 degrees Celcius). This occurs on a wide range (fun fact: stars only come in red, orange, yellow, white, and blue, because stars are approximately something called a "black body"). For example, our Sun is a yellow star with a surface temperature of 5,500 degrees Celcius (The Life of a Star).

        But why is this so? In order to understand that, I'm going to tell you about how stars live at all. This is what will determine the entire life of a star - something we'll be focusing on throughout this series. Two words: nuclear fusion.

        Nuclear fusion is "a reaction in which two or more atomic nuclei are combined to form one or more different atomic nuclei and subatomic particles (neutrons or protons). The difference in mass between the reactants and products is manifested as either the release or absorption of energy." (Wikipedia) And this is where nuclear fusion gets REALLY important to stars. Throughout their lives, stars undergo nuclear fusion in their core. This is mostly in the form of fusing two or more hydrogen atoms into one or more helium atoms. This releases energy in the form of light (the pressure of nuclear fusion in the core also prevents the star from collapsing under the weight of gravity, something we'll get to later). The energy transports to the surface of the star and then radiates at an "effective temperature." (Britannica) 

        Stars are different colors due to differing amounts of energy. This is best explained by Einstein's e=mc2 or the mass-energy equivalence. In other words, the more mass something has, the more energy, and vice versa. Stars with greater mass undergo more nuclear fusion - and as such - emit more energy/temperature. And so, the bigger the star, the greater the temperature, the bluer the star; and the smaller the star, the lower the temperature, the redder the star (Universe Today). Another way to think about this is this: the hotter something is, the shorter frequency of energy it emits. Blue light has a shorter frequency than red light, and so, higher energy/temperature stars are bluer.

        Another important classification of a star is its luminosity (or the brightness, or the magnitude of the star). (The Life of a Star)

        The most famous diagram classifying stars is the Herzsprung Russell Diagram, shown in this article's picture. The x-axis of the diagram shows surface temperature, hottest left, and coolest right. The y-axis shows brightness, brighter higher, and dimmer lower. There are main groups on the diagram. 

        Most stars fall in a long band stretching diagonally, starting in the upper left corner and ending in the right lower corner, this is called the main sequence. The main sequence shows stars which mostly use their life going through nuclear fusion. This process takes up most of a star's life. Most stars which are hotter and more luminous fall in the upper left corner of the main sequence and are blue in color. Most stars that have lower-masses are cooler, and redder falls in the lower right. Yellow stars like our Sun fall in the middle. 

         The group located in the lower-left corner are smaller, fainter, and bluer (hotter) and are called White Dwarfs. These stars are a result of a star like our Sun one day running out of Hydrogen.

          The group located right above the righter's main sequence is larger, cooler, brighter, and a more orange-red or red, are called Red Giants. They are also part of the dying process of a star like our sun. Above them in the upper right corner are Red Super Giants, massive, bright, cooler, and much more luminous. To the left of the Red Super Giants are similar stars which are just hotter and bluer and are called the Blue Super Giants.

        That explains the most famous star classifying diagram. The important thing to remember is the data on the chart is not what a star will be like it's whole life. A star's position on the chart will change like our Sun will one day do.

        In a ThoughtCo. article on the Hertzsprung Russell Diagram, Carolyn Collins Petersen wrote: "One thing to keep in mind is that the H-R diagram is not an evolutionary chart. At its heart, the diagram is simply a chart of stellar characteristics at a given time in their lives (and when we observed them). It can show us what stellar type a star can become, but it doesn't necessarily predict the changes in a star." ( The Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram and the Lives of Stars)

        And this will continue to be important in the next chapters. Stars don't just stay in the same position their entire lives: they change in their color, luminosity, and temperature. In this series, we'll be tracking how stars form, live and die - all dependent on these three factors - and nuclear fusion - again - super important :)

Previous -  Chapter 1: An Introduction

Next -  Chapter 3: Star Nurseries

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Woah :O

COOOOOLLL

I’ve never gotten to see a full solar eclipse, just a partial one that happened a few years ago. 

Maybe I’ll have better luck in the future?

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Traveling for 4 days, Just to See 30 Seconds of The Full Annular Eclipse! It Was worth All the Effort!

via reddit

Can I go to Lake Thetis? Damn.

Florida’s got nothing on this place, I’m sorry. 

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Milky Way + Stromatolites - Lake Thetis, Western Australia

Nikon d5500 - 35mm - 9 x 13s - ISO 3200 - f/2.2

You’re lying - those are way cooler than dumb fireworks!

I really don’t like fireworks. They’re environmentally damaging, loud, and they hide the stars!

So yeah, July 4th wasn’t too happy for me.

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A camera on the Vosges mountains in France captured these surprising “fireworks” above the horizon. Generated over intense thunderstorms, these brief and mysterious flashes have come to be known as red sprites. The transient luminous events are caused by electrical breakdown at altitudes of 50 to 100 kilometers. That puts them in the mesophere, the coldest layer of planet Earth's atmosphere. The glow beneath the sprites is from lightening under the clouds.

On the right, the video frames have captured another summertime apparition from the mesophere. The silvery veins of light are polar mesospheric clouds. Also known as noctilucent or night shining clouds, the icy clouds still reflect the sunlight when the Sun is below the horizon.

Image Credit & Copyright: Stephane Vetter (TWAN, Nuits sacrees)

Lookin’ Good!

I’ve been wanting to be an Astronaut for Halloween but sadly I live in Florida and the heat might suffocate me in a full suit! Perhaps a nice NASA shirt and hat and maybe a fake ID badge and I can go as a scientist :D

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Artemis Generation Spacesuit Event : Amy Ross, a spacesuit engineer at Johnson Space Center, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine, watch as Kristine Davis and Dustin Gohmert wear prototype spacesuits. (via NASA)

When can I move???

That’s so gorgeous though. I hate artificial lighting. These pictures seem so extraordinary and gorgeous but most people don’t know that the sky EVERYWHERE is gorgeous but our lighting just ruins it. 

I remember one time when I went out in the middle of Arizona and I could just barely see the Milky Way. It’s quite a sight. I wish we were able to see it every night.

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Summer Milky Way at Boddington, Western Australia

Nikon d5500 - 50mm - ISO 3200 - f/2.8 - Foreground: 9 x 15 seconds - Sky: 26 x 30 seconds - iOptron SkyTracker - Hoya Red Intensifier filter