Allison L

Mr. M-Block 1

Space

A young girl lays down on the grass in her backyard on a summer night. She is

on her back looking up at the sky. The night is clear and there are no lights around her

so way up in the distance she can see millions of stars, the moon, and maybe even

planets, but they’re too far away from her to tell. She wonders what is up there, how it

got there, and why. So she asks her teachers at school for more information and finds

out the basics of the universe.

One of the greatest mysteries perhaps is the question of how the universe

began, formed, and became what we know it is to be today. Many other mind-boggling

questions are based on the answer to this one question. And answer that we may never

get. It’s tough for many people to even think about this without questioning everything.

It’s basic human nature to be curious and want to know, well, everything. So the not

knowing can really freak people out.

Even with hypotheses and theories going around, the more you look into space,

the more complex it gets. According to the big bang theory (The actual theory not the

television show) the Universe came to be during a period of “inflation” approximately

13.7 billion years ago (that’s 13,700,000,000 years) The theory states that the universe

was only energy. Like a balloon, the universe swelled from smaller than an electron to

its current size in a fraction of a second. Some of the energy was particles which
assembled into simple elements like hydrogen and helium. These atoms became our

first galaxies, inside which, other elements formed.

Even though this theory is generally agreed-upon by scientist, some things still

make them uneasy with the period like how the “inflation” cannot be directly tested, and

relies on the existence of a certain form of energy from the universe is beginning that

has long since disappeared.

Scientist have also figured that there is to be some sort of dark energy or dark

matter in the universe that they can not seem to find. Basically, scientist have a puzzle

that they need to figure out. But they don’t have the pieces. And the pieces that they do

find don’t fit together correctly.

Our solar system is comprised of the sun and everything that orbits around. That

doesn’t seem so small. No way. We can understand of the solar system is bigger than

the sun and earth and moon and all the other planets. What you might not realize is that

scientist believe the edge of the universe is about 9,000,000,000 miles away from the

sun. To put it in perspective, the earth isn’t even 1000 miles in diameter at its biggest

spot. The largest planet is Jupiter which is 88,000 miles wide. The star of our solar

system, the sun, is about 865,000 miles wide. And the furthest planet from the sun is

roughly 4,5000,000,000 miles away. But thinking about perspective of the most

common American sport, that’s 158,400,000,000 football fields. This basically a

long-winded way of saying our solar system is huge. And it’s made up of a bunch of

elements and matter.

 To understand the solar system it might be helpful to understand how most

scientists believe this solar system was created. It is a theory that the solar system

started out as a cloud of dust and gas which eventually collapsed in on it’s own gravity.

A disc of dust and gas formed creating a star. “A star is a type of astronomical object

consisting of a luminous spheroid plasma held together by its own gravity” thus forming

the most common star, the sun, named after the Greek God Sol. With the sun being a

huge force of gravity, small particles form together around it. Once they became big

enough they gained orbits and due to the new planets having their own gravity, they all

soon formed in a mostly spherical shape. The earth is technically an oblate spheroid

and the online newspaper Scientific American explains that this is due to the uneven

distribution of mass in the Earth.

Our earth, solar system, galaxy and even the universe was created, in theory,

from nothing and the actual chances of us living in the exact world we live in are very

slim. One thing could have happened in the past that set off a chain reaction, and we

wouldn’t even be here. But we are here, and space is up there, and I intend to find out

as much as possible about it.

“The Aerospace Corporation” explains that the size of the observable universe is

three novemacellion times bigger than earth. That’s sixty zeros. The known and

unknown parts of the universe are made up of entities that are governed by the laws of

physics. The solar system has a total mass of about 333,346 earths. The earth only

takes up about .0003% of the solar system and .2% mass of the planets combined
meaning that even though Earth seems giant to us, it really is not in the grand scheme

of things.

The Milky Way galaxy, which is the galaxy that our solar system is a part of, is

100,000 light years with about 400 million stars. The universe has been estimated that

about 93 billion light years in diameter. That’s 5.5×10 to the 23 miles. Compared to the

sun it’s a speck of dust. Compared to the universe the earth is not even in the picture.

For comparison, if the earth is .2% mass of all eight of our planets, but every

planet and star in the entire universe are thought to take up 5% of the entire universe,

that’s makes the earth the nothing of the nothing. The solar system is about 4.6 billion

years old and it consists of the sun, planets, dwarf planets, and anything else in the

Sun’s orbit. To reiterate what I explained earlier, the sun was formed by the collapse of

a giant molecular cloud. This also formed a flat disc of dust that everything eventually

formed on. 99.86% of the solar system mass is found in the sun and the remaining

.14% is the eight planets which might put into perspective how small everything really is.

After learning about the beginnings of our solar system and universe, the little girl

is not satisfied with her knowledge. She wants to know more about our solar system

specifically. What the planets are made of and how we know this.

The first four planets are the smaller planets called the terrestrial planets and

they are made primarily up of rock and metal. The outer four planets or the gas giants,

are larger and more massive. The two gas giants Saturn and Jupiter, are mostly

comprised of carbon and hydrogen. While the other two, Uranus and Neptune, are more

ices specifically water ammonia and methane. Which is why they are sometimes
referred to as the ice giants. Every single one of the planet has been visited by

spacecraft of some sort and at some point in time. Since humans have been exploring

for over 60 years, we have gotten up close and personal with many things.

Not only have spacecrafts been sent to Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter,

Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, but also the dwarf planets Pluto and Ceres. Many of the

flyby pictures have come from NASA’s twin Voyager spacecraft which left earth in 1977

and is still transmitting data from beyond the solar system in interstellar space.

The little girl now has tons of knowledge about the planets. However she wants

to know if there is any life on these planets, or if there’s life beyond the planets.

For decades, scientist have wondered about extraterrestrial life. In our solar

system, there is no known life though Mars had liquid water and may have been

habitable from microorganisms. Just like there’s no no life and our solar system, there’s

no known life anywhere except for earth. At least not that we know of ​yet.​

The search for life elsewhere is ongoing. In the Milky Way galaxy alone there are

most likely billions of planets. So odds are that there is at least one like earth. Though

we haven’t found one yet. If scientists find multiple planets like ours, they will have to

conclude that we most likely aren’t alone.

NASA has an planning program going on who’s ultimate goal is to find the

unmistakable signs of current life. However there are a lot of plants and solar systems

and galaxies to look through so it could take a very long time before we even find the

possibility of life elsewhere.

 If life is out there, I would be looking for us too, at least we think. If aliens find us

first, that basically means our technology is inferior to theirs and until we find them or

they find us, all you can do is make your best guess. The only two options are that we

are alone in this universe or not. But which option is more terrifying?

Now the same little girl has knowledge about the beginnings of the universe and

solar system but she wants to know more about the space exploration we talked briefly

about when explaining about the planets. She is interested in how space travel began

and all about the people who do the exploring. Astronauts.

Since the beginning of time, humans have wondered about space. By the middle

of the 20th century or the 1900s, Rockets have been made powerful enough to

overcome the force of gravity. In the 1930s and 1940s Nazi Germany saw the

possibilities of using long-distance rockets as weapons. Towards the end of World War

II London was attacked with missiles that ranged 200 miles and went 60 miles high at

approximately 3500 mph. After the war the US and Soviet each created their own

missile programs. On October 4, 1957 the Soviets launched an of artificial satellite

named Sputnik 1 into space. On April 12, 1961, they sent up Lieutenant Yuri Gagarin

who became the first man to ever orbit earth.The US was always a little bit behind in the

“space race”. On January 31, 1958 we sent our first satellite Into orbit and on February

20, 1962 John Glenn was the first American to orbit the earth.

However the US was ahead one on July 20, 1969 Neil Armstrong became the

first man to set foot on the moon. In the 1960s, one man spacecraft were taking photos

and probing but by the 70s, communications navigation satellite word for years. Earth
was even getting ordered and mapped only a few years after we had stepped on the

moon. America's first space station was a highlight of the 70s and by the 80s satellite

communication carried as much as TV shows.

It’s no secret that space travel is dangerous. “Space Node” explains how

astronauts go through extensive training to make sure that they are physically fit as well

as prepared for every possible situation, good or bad. Even still, there are risks that

come with space travel. Long-term exposure to the weightlessness of zero gravity can

cause muscle atrophy or skelter deterioration. “The National Institute of Health” explains

that muscle atrophy is defined as a decrease in the mass of the muscle. It can be partial

or complete wasting away of muscle. It is commonly experienced when a person suffers

temporary disabling circumstances such as restriction of movement of being confined to

bed. In this case zero gravity causes it. Skeletal deterioration, more commonly known

as osteoporosis, is a disease characterized by low bone mass and structural

deterioration of bone tissue leading to bone fragility and an increased risk of fracture.

It’s common in both men and women with more than 53 million cases in the US, but

even more common in astronauts. When astronauts come home after an extended

period of time in space it takes a lot of time and energy to readjust. This is because time

in weightlessness effects basic 3D perception, your spine, your bones, and more.

Generally it takes at least A 45 day “reconditioning” to build a bone mass and

muscle strength that are lost in the microgravity environment of space because

technically, there is gravity everywhere, even in the weightlessness of space. Most

astronauts take approximately six months to rehabilitate back to complete normal.

 Everything is different in space from food to sleeping to walking. Space food is

preserved and reheated. There’s no pressure to vegetables but they can grow it

themselves. But they don’t even eat bread, one of the most basic foods on earth. You

don’t go to sleep normal, you sleep floating. You’re always floating because of the

microgravity. And walking, well, astronauts living on the space station can really just go

for spacewalk whatever they want to. Of course, that’s basically floating in nothingness.

Always floating. Just like sleeping, you’re always floating. Whereas on earth, walking is

walking. Though it does take some time to be able to walk normally because of the

reasons explained previously.

The girl loves learning about space, especially astronauts. But sometimes when

she talks about space, people like to point out their misbeliefs about space.

When you talk about space there’s always the person that takes it upon

themselves to talk about their conspiracies that have to do with space. One of the most

common conspiracies is that the Moon Landing was fake. Why is this? Many people

point out that in the original pictures there are no stars in the sky, the flag is fluttering,

and there are footprints but no marks from lunar modules.

However there’s an explanation for all of these things. Why can’t we see the

stars? The light from daylight washes them out just like you can’t see stars during the

day because of the sun. The flag is fluttering because the flag had metal rods in it to

simulate movement so it looked better in the pictures. And the lunar module aren’t

heavy enough to create marks on the moon. Additionally the pictures weren’t taken right

next to the modules.

 Another common conspiracy is that the earth is flat. This is a common conspiracy

because people say that the horizon is always at eye level. As well as the fact that there

is no full movie of earth rotating. Both of these theories are easily shut down. The

horizon is always at eye level because you’re too short and you’re not far away enough

to see the full horizon. And there are actually movies from NASA that show the earth

rotating in full.

The third conspiracy is that NASA is a lie. Why is this? Some people believe that

NASA’s function is not to explore space to create space related hoaxes. Of course

these are the same people that think the Moon Landing was fake and they have no

proof behind their words.

The last conspiracy, which is not as popular as the others, is that “planet nine”

will kill us. Why is this and what even is “planet nine”? A newspaper in 2016 tweeted

that a newly discovered planet could destroy the earth within a month. A video followed

claiming the new planet was literally throwing asteroids and comets the earth. The

planet’s existence is yet to be confirmed by astronomers even though they’re on the

lookout. And even if the planets found, professional say it doesn’t pose a threat. The

newspaper was not an accredited one and it was most likely one that throws out hoaxes

all the time in hopes that one would stick.

Of course, the little girl who likes space so much also likes proving people wrong

so she points out their misconceptions when they rant on about conspiracies. She

knows so much about space but there will always be more to learn and she knows this.

When she grows up she wants to someday work at NASA or some other space related
organization in the hopes that she can know everything she can possibly know about

space.

There is nothing more confusing than the universe. You think that you know

something but then you try to look into the issue and you get even more confused.

Questions pop up right as you’re on the verge of a breakthrough. Space and time are a

concept many people are trying to figure out. There are different theories and belief

systems that all explain different ways that the Earth, solar system, and universe began

and how they quite possibly could end. Though I enjoyed learning about space, I found

that the more I found out about the universe, the more I wanted to know and my

knowledge of the universe kept shrinking instead of expanding.

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15 Feb. 2019,

biomimicry.net/earths-calendar-year-4-5-billion-years-compressed-into-12-months/

“Effect of Spaceflight on the Human Body.” ​Wikipedia​, Wikimedia Foundation, 30 Apr.

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