The above picture shows the Trio stars of the Orion’s Belt along with The Great Orion Nebula, the Horsehead Nebula and the Flame Nebula. The three bright stars along the diagonal are the three stars of the Orion Belt.

The reddish cloud below the left most star is the Flame Nebula. The Flame Nebula includes the Horsehead Nebula (the darkest portion on the leftmost of the flame nebula is in the shape of the head of a horse). The bright cloud on top of the left most star is the Great Orion Nebula.

The three Nebulea together is known as the Orion Molecular Cloud Complex.

*~*Disclaimer: The following theory is put forward all by myself. The contents may or may not be true. *~*

I hope you would have read my previous topic, ‘How Old is Everything’. There I explained how the age of the Universe was estimated to be between 11 to 18 billion years. In this topic I’m not going to tell you that the Universe has a limit or that there is a perfect boundary for the Universe but I’m going prove that one cannot see anything in the Universe beyond a particular range which could form an invisible boundary.

Before explaining my theory let me start with the basics. I hope you all would have heard of the term ‘Light Year’. It is the distance traveled by light in one year. Now imagine you see a star which is 10 LY (Light Year) away. The light from the star that you actually see was produced from the star 10 years ago. It has taken 10 years for the light to travel from that star all the way to Earth. Based on this there are three possibilities on whether you can see a particular star.

1. Now let us imagine a star which is 10 million LY away. If the star was alive 10 million years ago then we will be able to see the star at present as the light produced from the star 10 million years ago would reach the Earth at the present time. I hope there is no doubt about that.

2. Now let us assume that the star (10 million LY away) was not present 10 million years ago. Let the age of the star be 1 million years old. Though the star does exist at present we would not be able to see it from Earth because the light of the star will take 9 million more years to reach Earth.

3. Now let us imagine that a star (10 million LY away) did exist 10 million years ago but it does not exist at present. Let us assume that the star died about 5 million years ago. Yet we would be able to see the star. Only after 5 million years we would be able to see the star die from Earth.

My theory is based on these three points. Once you understand these three points, you would be able to understand my theory.

Coming to the point, let us assume that the Universe is 1 billion years old and there was no source of light before that. Let us assume that there is a star 1 billion LY away and that it was present right from the beginning of the Universe. Then we can surely see that source from Earth. Now let us assume that there is a star which is 2 billion LY away. We would not be able to see it because the star was not present 2 billion years ago. Since that was before the birth of Universe, there was nothing in the universe at that time. Hence we can see nothing beyond the range of 1 billion LY since there was no source of light at that time. Thus our range of sight is only up to 1 billion LY is all direction.

Therefore I conclude that though Universe does not have a definite boundary, it certainly has a limit beyond which nothing can be seen, whether or not something is present. And this limit is given by the age of the Universe. Hence every second, the limit is further extended by 1 light second (3×10^8 meters). Hence every year, the limit is extended by 1 LY. Is this what the scientists say that the Universe is expanding??? Or is it just a coincidence???

The object within the white circle is the farthest object ever discovered. Abell 2218 is a tiny galaxy at a distance of roughly 13 billion LY from Earth

Here is another point I have discovered. Using the above theory one can say that the limit of the universe is approximately the age of the universe itself. And one cannot see anything beyond this range from Earth. By theory of relativity, it can also be said that the Earth is in the center of this boundary or relatively Earth is at the center of the Universe.

I hope you would have read my previous topic, ‘How Old is Everything’. There I explained how the age of the Universe was estimated to be between 11 to 18 billion years. In this topic I’m not going to tell you that the Universe has a limit or that there is a perfect boundary for the Universe but I’m going prove that one cannot see anything in the Universe beyond a particular range which could form an invisible boundary.

Before explaining my theory let me start with the basics. I hope you all would have heard of the term ‘Light Year’. It is the distance traveled by light in one year. Now imagine you see a star which is 10 LY (Light Year) away. The light from the star that you actually see was produced from the star 10 years ago. It has taken 10 years for the light to travel from that star all the way to Earth. Based on this there are three possibilities on whether you can see a particular star.

1. Now let us imagine a star which is 10 million LY away. If the star was alive 10 million years ago then we will be able to see the star at present as the light produced from the star 10 million years ago would reach the Earth at the present time. I hope there is no doubt about that.

2. Now let us assume that the star (10 million LY away) was not present 10 million years ago. Let the age of the star be 1 million years old. Though the star does exist at present we would not be able to see it from Earth because the light of the star will take 9 million more years to reach Earth.

3. Now let us imagine that a star (10 million LY away) did exist 10 million years ago but it does not exist at present. Let us assume that the star died about 5 million years ago. Yet we would be able to see the star. Only after 5 million years we would be able to see the star die from Earth.

My theory is based on these three points. Once you understand these three points, you would be able to understand my theory.

Coming to the point, let us assume that the Universe is 1 billion years old and there was no source of light before that. Let us assume that there is a star 1 billion LY away and that it was present right from the beginning of the Universe. Then we can surely see that source from Earth. Now let us assume that there is a star which is 2 billion LY away. We would not be able to see it because the star was not present 2 billion years ago. Since that was before the birth of Universe, there was nothing in the universe at that time. Hence we can see nothing beyond the range of 1 billion LY since there was no source of light at that time. Thus our range of sight is only up to 1 billion LY is all direction.

Therefore I conclude that though Universe does not have a definite boundary, it certainly has a limit beyond which nothing can be seen, whether or not something is present. And this limit is given by the age of the Universe. Hence every second, the limit is further extended by 1 light second (3×10^8 meters). Hence every year, the limit is extended by 1 LY. Is this what the scientists say that the Universe is expanding??? Or is it just a coincidence???

The object within the white circle is the farthest object ever discovered. Abell 2218 is a tiny galaxy at a distance of roughly 13 billion LY from Earth

Here is another point I have discovered. Using the above theory one can say that the limit of the universe is approximately the age of the universe itself. And one cannot see anything beyond this range from Earth. By theory of relativity, it can also be said that the Earth is in the center of this boundary or relatively Earth is at the center of the Universe.

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said the design for the second moon mission, ‘Chadrayaan 2‘ is completed on December 24th, Wednesday. The mission is supposed to carry a lander/rover whereas the mother spacecraft will orbit the Moon. Chandrayaan 2 is said to be launched on 2012.

ISRO has collaborated with Russia for building the rover. The rover will have a soft landing on the moon unlike the MIP probe of Chandrayaan 1 which had a hard landing. The rover will collect the soil and rock samples from the moon, do in-situ tests and send the data to Earth through the orbiter. The estimated cost for Chandrayaan 2 is said to be Rs. 425 crore (US $ 90 million).

ISRO is currently earning about Rs 10 billion (Rs 1,000 crore) annually from its commercial wing. Chandrayaan is expected make it grow at 20 percent per year.

Anyways, I forgot to mention this in my previous post. The previous one was my 50th post.

Another achievement by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) as the satellite “W2M” was successfully launched Sunday morning at Kourou in French Guyana.

Ariane – 5 before launch

Ariane-5 (rocket) was launched on sunday bearing two satellites, “W2M and Hot Bird 9″. The space craft W2M, weighing 3463 kg was built by ISRO. This is the heaviest satellite ever built by ISRO and its capable of operating over 15 years. W2M is a communication satellite built on a commercial basis in partnership with EADS-Astrium of Europe.

This is not a very clear image but it is an astonishing one of the crescent Moon and Venus. This was viewed right here at Chennai on May 21st, 2004. It may be old but I would never forget this incident where the Moon forms a magical lamp with Venus brightly light at the end. This image was published in “The Hindu” on the next day. Ever since I started this blog I wanted to post this image but I never found it. By mere luck I found the old newspaper with this image and using its date I found the image in “The Hindu” website. I now hold the newspaper cutting (where the image is clear) as a possession. Click Here to read the article.

I remember my friend Kavin, who use to ask me repeatedly, “What is an Halo and how it is formed?”. I had no answer to this question except that I knew it occurs quite regularly. So finally I decided to check on what an Halo is, and this is what I found.

Halos are nothing but a dim circle of light that is formed around the Sun or the Moon or any bright source of light for that matter (eg. a street lamp). These halos are formed due to ice crystals that are found in the clouds. These ice crystals acts as a lens reflecting and refracting the light.

A picture of the Sun’s Halo

A Moon Halo

It is the day of Geminids. I had a very long, horrible day throughout. The worst day of my entire life had a happy ending with about 5 meteors. Click here to read the experience of my day. Due to various reasons I reached home as late as 11 pm. I went straight to my terrace at around 11:15 only to find most of the sky covered in clouds. I realized that the clouds were moving very fast and within 10 mins they must clear. Just as I thought the sky was cleared in 10 mins making the sky, around Gemini, clear. The Moon was very bright and I was sure to miss out lots of meteors. I positioned myself such that I could see all around Gemini especially the western part of the sky.

11:39 – South-west, 80 deg from the horizon, a short meteor. Not the brightest.

11:48 – This one was a little to the west from zenith (exactly over-head). It was very quick and very short. It was very quick and also being short, it disappeared less than a second.

11:55 – About 60 deg from the northern horizon, moving towards west. It was a little bright and longer than the previous two.

This was when a bunch of clouds came in. Had to wait a long time for it to clear.

12:15 - About 45 deg from the western horizon. It was less bright but it was quick.

12:30 – About 60 deg from south-west horizon. This one was bright and it moved slowly, about the normal speed with all others being too quick.

The long tiring day started to take over me and I realized I almost dozed at the terrace. I decided to get back into the house and sleep. But it was a good experience.

I hope atleast one of my friends had caught one.

]]> http://inchara4u.wordpress.com/2008/12/17/geminids-experience/feed/ 6 Ink http://inchara4u.wordpress.com/2008/12/09/geminids-2008/ http://inchara4u.wordpress.com/2008/12/09/geminids-2008/#comments Tue, 09 Dec 2008 03:48:00 +0000 Inchara http://inchara4u.wordpress.com/2008/12/09/geminids-2008/ ]]>

Yet another Meteor Showers. This one is called Geminids. These meteors appear to out of the constellation Gemini, just as Leonids did from the constellation Leo. It can be viewed between December 8th till December 17. But it peaks on December 13-14.

Best time to look out for Geminids is from 9pm on December 13th till sunrise on December 14th. It peaks at about 100 meteors an hour. On non-peak days, you may only spot about 10 an hour. Geminids are one of the best shower of the year. These meteors originated in a mysterious object called 3200 Phaethon, which looks like a cross between an asteroid and a burned-out comet. Each time Earth reaches this point in space, the debris falls into the atmosphere causing the meteors.

Where to look? Look at the entire sky during the time. It can appear anywhere. Its direction would be away from Gemini. For those who feel safe to know the location of Gemini, the constellation is exactly where the moon is on December 13th. And yes! Its a full moon. The bright full moon may block most of the meteors. Hence, you can only see the bright meteors. All the dull meteors will be shunt by the bright light of the moon. So look at the entire sky, best being around the moon.

Click Here to see the position of the moon over Gemini and also how the meteors appear from the constellation. The red “X” on the picture is the radiant of the shower. Radiant is a point from where the meteors appear to move from. No meteor will be visible at the radiant. It only appears to move away from it.

Here are some of the images of the Smile created by Moon, Venus and Jupiter in the sky on 1st December, 2008. Venus and Jupiter forms the eyes and the crescent Moon forms the mouth. The brighter eye to the left is Venus and the one of the right is Jupiter.

The beautiful sky smile over the city of New York.

Through the clouds.

Close-up Shot

It looks perfect here.

This image is hours after the smile. Moon has moved past Venus and Jupiter.

Images Courtesy: Nithya