Andromeda Galaxy is the farthest object in the sky that we can see with the naked eye. But if you don’t know where to look, you won’t notice it. If it was much brighter, its appearance in the sky would be sensational. The moon is a good reference for what we’d see if our galaxy’s neighbor was much brighter in the image below:
Have you ever wondered how big is the Earth compared to other planets? Or other stars? Or even the Universe itself?
When it comes to big numbers, very big numbers, the human brain is weak. In fact, our brains cannot deal with really large numbers. That’s why when the subject is Earth, planets, Solar System, galaxies, and in general, the Universe, we cannot truly conceptualize the things. A lot of people think we’re “conquering” space (we are far, far away from that – and maybe we never will), or the “aliens” are regularly visiting Earth as if it is just an hour’s drive from there.
In fact, these people don’t truly understand what are they talking about, how big is the universe, how far even the nearest stars are, and how the Earth is a tiny, tiny spot in a vast space we are still striving to understand.
A beautiful video, once again, from Michael Stevens, titled “How Earth Moves”. Michael explains many concepts, including “sub-solar point”, “sidereal day vs solar day”, or “how Earth moves in space” etc, and he is doing it in a very simplified manner. Enjoy!
Some natural events are so rare, so strange, but amazingly beautiful at the same time. They even seem out of our world, and sometimes it’s hard to believe they truly exist. Here are a few of them, 10 stunning and rare natural phenomena.
There are a lot of natural and human-made wonders in the world. But everything has an end, and sooner or later, they’ll be gone. Unfortunately, some of them will be vanished sooner, even in a few decades. Here are eight famous places to see before they have vanished, just in case you may want to see them before they are gone.
In the past, there were five major extinction events (a widespread and rapid decrease in the biodiversity on Earth), and a lot of minor ones. Now, we are in the middle of the sixth one, called the “Holocene extinction event”. And the cause is… guess what? Humans.
According to the WWF’s (World Wildlife Fund) new Living Planet Report (2016), now we are in the middle of the biggest mass extinction on Earth, since the dinosaurs, which was around 65 million years ago. And the world is set to lose two-thirds of its wildlife by as close as 2020.
Since the Neolithic revolution, humanity is building cities. Here are the top ten amazing facts about cities all around the world.
An alligator’s brain weighs only 8 or 9 grams, and it has the size of a walnut, but that
A spectacular video (drones sacrificed while shooting it!) from National Geographic: explorer Sam Cossman operated camera-mounted drones to capture high-definition images of the Marum crater (also spelled Maroum) in Ambrym, Vanuatu. Vanuatu is a Pacific island nation located in the South Pacific Ocean.
In 2006, Planet Earth, the British television series produced by the BBC Natural History Unit “has changed our view of the world”. It was the first nature documentary series filmed in high definition. The making took five years and it was the most expensive nature documentary series ever commissioned by the BBC. Now, ten years later, in February 2016, the BBC announced a six-part sequel had been commissioned, titled Planet Earth II. In October 2016, BBC released the trailer of Planet Earth II.