July 21, 2017--The Universe

I've been reading Marcia Bartusiak's excellent The Day We Found the Universe, which is largely about how astronomers came to measure the size of our solar system, the galaxy of which our sun and the earth are a part, and ultimately the expanse of the entire universe.

Many astronomers contributed to what we now know about these cosmic distances. But Edwin Hubble is featured in the book as he is the astronomer who subjected all the partial theories to scrutiny and incorporated those that contributed to his own research about the size and components of the expanding universe.

He, thus, is thought to be the most important of cosmologists, the discoverer of the universe.

The book is primarily about sizes and distances. Less about motion and stellar velocities. But I have also been thinking about the speed of galactic bodies. For example, to complete one daily, 24-hour cycle how fast is the earth rotating? It turns out to be nearly 1,000 miles per hour.

Then there are other related, mind-boggling things to think about. For example, how fast is the earth moving as it completes its 365-day orbit around the sun? It turns out to be an astonishing 66,000 mph.

Earth along with the other planets and the sun that make up our solar system are also in motion.

That system is part of a vast galaxy, the Milky Way, and it circumnavigates that galaxy at 44,000 mph.

Also, the entire galaxy itself is in motion--it rotates-- and the earth, as part of the galaxy, rotates along with it as it, over 225 million years, completes one full rotation (a galactic year). The speed of rotation is an incomprehensible 483,000 miles per hour.

And finally, the galaxy itself is moving through space at 1.3 million mph.

To summarize these five interconnected movements--

• 1,000 miles per hour is the speed of the earth's rotation;
• 66,000 mph is how fast the earth goes about its 365-days-a-year orbit of the sun;
• 44,000 miles per hour is how fast our sun and planets (our solar system) whips along as it circles the Milky Way galaxy;
• 483,000 mph is how fast the Milky Way is racing to complete its 225-million-year circuit;
• And 1.3 million miles per hour is the speed at which our galaxy moves through the universe.

It is a wonder that we aren't tossed off into space as the result of the sum of these five velocities.

The why of that is a whole other conversation.

Words, especially superlatives, fail me.

July 14, 2017--The Big Dipper

"Six bypasses? Stan had six bypasses." Ed was incredulous and so was I. "I thought they could only do two. One for each valve."

"I thought so too," I said, "But his wife Sally said they did six."

"So that's two more to worry about," Ed said.

"I agree. If it was up to me it would be good if they could do only two. There'd be less to be anxious about. Worrying about things that can go wrong is not my favorite thing. In fact, best for me would be if they couldn't do any."

Rona chimed in, "You both are such babies. You should be thankful for modern medicine. You'd both be dead already if it weren't for that."

"I like the living-longer part," I said, "But not what you have to do to live longer."

"Can we please change the subject," Ed said. "I can take a pass on all the medical talk."

"Me too," I said. Rona rolled her eyes and announced she was going to the bathroom.

"So let's talk about something else," Ed suggested.

"That's all right with me," I said.

"What's your pleasure?"

"Let's stay in the science realm as distinct from the medical."

"Shoot," Ed said. By then Rona was back.

"For some reason," I said, "I've been thinking about the Big Dipper."

"What?" Rona said. She resumed her eye rolling.

"I've been reading a little about cosmology." I said, "And just got The Day We Found the Universe, which is the story of Edwin Hubble's discovery of the size of the universe. I can't wait to get to it."

"Sounds boring to me," Rona said.

I ignored that. "While waiting for it to arrive from the bookseller, for some reason I got to thinking about the night sky. It's so vivid here. With the Big Dipper right overhead, on some nights it feels as if it's within reach."

"The sky here, with relatively little light pollution, can be amazing," Ed said. "Winters you can even see the Aurora Borealis. But what's with your obsession about the Big Dipper?"

"It's not quite an obsession," I said, "But since I know almost nothing about astronomy it's the only constellation I know. My father used to point out some others like Aries, Latin for lamb; Gemini, for twins; Leo, of course the lion; and Orion, the Greek hunter who is depicted as holding aloft the severed head of a lion. But I never was able to see them. The images, I mean. The Big Dipper is another matter. It really looks like a dipper whereas Aries to me doesn't look like a lamb."

"That's it?" Ed said.

"Almost," I said, "I'm thinking about the seven stars that make up the Dipper. I'm using the term 'star' loosely since I don't know if the stars are actually stars.

"Huh?" Ed said, "You're losing me."

"He lost me years ago," Rona said blowing me a kiss. I knew she was just into giving me a little grief.

"I mean, are they stars, are they nebulae, are they very distant solar systems that to us with the naked eye look like single sources of light?"

"I have no idea," Ed said. I knew I was trying his patience. "I guess it's something you can look up on Wiki." He checked his watch, "I gotta go. I need to go to work again today. We're very busy."

"I'll let you know what I find," I promised.

Back at the house I did some Googling.

First, all seven Big Dipper "stars" are in fact stars. And each star has a name. Also, the BD is a part of a larger constellation, Ursa Major, which in Latin means "the greater she-bear."

Then, it's connected to another dipper-like configuration of stars called the Little Dipper, also made up of seven stars.

And I noted, Merak and Dubhu, the two stars that form the outer edge of the cup of the Big Dipper are also known as Pointer Stars since, if you drew a line through them, they point to Polaris, the seemingly stationary North Star.

Enough, I thought. I can't wait to tell Ed. Rona on the other hand . . .

August 28, 2015--Friday at the Bristol Diner: The Universe In a Suitcase

"Look," Al said, "I really don't know what I'm talking about but--"

"That never stopped you," Ken said half under his breath.

"Touché," Al said, "But someone who knows about cosmology told me the other day that before the Big Bang, if you were around and strong enough, you could have carried around in a suitcase, a small one, everything that after the Big Bang became the universe."

He paused to let that take effect. "And my friend meant everything--all the stuff needed to form atoms and molecules from subatomic particles like protons and neutrons and quarks and also all that was needed, when things cooled down and coalesced, to create billions and billions of suns and solar systems and black holes that are now swirling about out there 13, 14 billion years later."

"Actually," I said, "It's even more amazing than that."

"How could anything be more amazing?" Ken asked. "I mean was everything, everything compressed enough to fit in a carry-on bag? Is that true? If so, that's amazing enough for me. Of course that's if Al knows what he's talking about." Ken tends to be skeptical about everything. Especially anything coming from Al

"But what do you mean?" Ken asked, turning to me.

"I mean, from things I've read, all the energy and ultimate mass that constitutes the universe, including the earth and us, was so densely compressed that it was the size of a subatomic particle. Which, to say the least, was infinitesimally small."

Now Ken was staring at me. "I'm not making this up," I shrugged, "Just passing along what I read."

"So forget the suitcase," Ken said, "You mean everything could have fit in a thimble?"

"The smallest one imaginable," smiling, I said to Ken.

"What's more," Al said, wanting to again take control of the discussion, "No matter the size--suitcase, thimble--some theorists say there's evidence that our universe is not unique. That it's not the first one to have existed."

"I once heard something like that," Ken said, now getting into it. "On Nova or somewhere."

"That the previous universe more than 14 billion years ago collapsed into the largest mother black hole ever and that when it got to the size of that subatomic particle Steve mentioned, it re-exploded. And so here we are, maybe again, sitin' in the Bristol Diner havin' coffee."

"What's this again business?" Ken picked up that Al had emphasized that.

"Think about it," Al said, "Not that I'm a Hindu mystic or anything, but if those scientists are right about a succession of universes, one universal black hole after another, what they call the Big Crunch, followed by one Big Bang after another, it could be, considering how complicated and strange all of this is, that we may have been here, say, 28 billion years ago or 42 billion years ago. In the same booth, drinking the same godforsaken coffee."

"You know, Al," Ken said, "Once in awhile you manage to come up with something interesting to think about."

All acted all humble. Not his usual demeanor. "So that means you'll be paying for my coffee?" He roared with laughter so hearty that it felt as if it stretched across all of time.

I reached out to slide Al's check across the table to where Rona and I were sitting. She already had the money out to pay it.