Day 14: Final Entry: My Love For Science

This is a high school physics textbook on my IPad that I read in my spare time. Obviously, there are no words, because this an introduction video clip to the textbook.

A chapter in the physics textbook that I read tonight. It talks about centripetal acceleration.

Throughout my whole life science has fascinated me. I started taking an active interest in first grade when my uncles introduced me to nature’s beauty on a trail hike. I’ve always been very curious and inquisitive, so I soon began to wonder how nature works.  Initially, I would ask my uncles these questions, which soon led to me reading about it on my own. As I got more in-depth about nature's inner workings, the reading kept exposing me to more and more of the scientific side. After a while, I began wanting to learn about the science behind things, until science itself became the priority.

Currently, my favorite branch of science is astrophysics, or the study of physics in the universe. I love the fact that there is still so much just waiting to be discovered. Also, the universe is ridiculously large so you never know what’s out there. There are even a few theories stating that there may be other universes, each with different physical laws and constants. The potential idea that we live in a universe among multiple other universes opens up many possibilities that so far can only come out of our imagination. One question that I always ask myself when thinking about the universe is “What if?” This is one of my favorite questions because it allows me to theorize a scenario. For example, what if I were to exit this universe? Could I do it? If I did it what would happen; would I freeze due to a lack of the space-time continuum? Another example might be, what if I went into a black hole? After being obliterated, what would become of me? Would I sit still with the rest of the matter at a possible bottom of the black hole? In addition, I love to learn about the physics behind the interactions of objects in space. I find it so neat to learn about space-time, gravity, energy, matter, anti-matter, dark energy, and more. Another good thing about these topics is that we don’t know everything about them; in fact, we know very little, so it leaves lots of room for me to speculate.

Outside of the astrophysics field, I’m also driven to learn about other branches of science. One of these branches happens to be biology. Many in my family either work within fields of biology or know a lot about it, so it’s interesting to learn from relatives. My parents both know a lot about biology, my aunt is a marine biologist, and my grandmother works with many animals, is an active birder, and reads hundreds of books about animals. Also, one of my uncles in particular is a botanist, and is always teaching me things. He shows me new discoveries, documentaries, and answers a lot of my questions. I always look forward to getting a lesson from a family member.

The best part about science is that you can never stop learning, so the process of discovery never ends. That is why my thirst for science will never be quenched, and I will always want to learn more.

Day 13: Dark Matter and Dark Energy

           Dark Matter and Dark Energy are quite similar, and could possibly be the same thing. It's hard to define them, since astrophysicists really don't know what they are yet. In a nutshell, Dark Energy is a mysterious and directly undetectable (in other words, cannot be seen by looking at it) force that is accelerating the expansion of the Universe. Dark Matter is a mysterious and directly undetectable type of matter that is influencing things in the Universe in weird ways. In fact, Dark Matter is thought to take up 23% of the Universe, Dark Energy takes up 72%, and regular matter takes up only 4.6%, and the .4% belongs to some complicated topic.

          One may ask, so how do scientists know that these things exist anyway? Well, one way of detecting Dark Energy is by referencing the Doppler effect. The Doppler effect is basically the change of frequency of a wave relative to the observer. On the electromagnetic spectrum, the color we that we see depends on the wavelength of the light. The Universe is already expanding, but we can detect the extra acceleration of the expansion by looking at distant stars and galaxies. If the stars and galaxies are flying further away from us, then the wavelength would increase, shifting toward the red part of the spectrum, and we would see "redder" light. This is called a red shift. Because many stars and galaxies are further red shifting, we know that there must be an unknown force occurring, which is Dark Energy.

          Dark Matter, on the other hand, is detected in many ways, one of them being through gravitational phenomenon. Because it does not give out light, or other electromagnetic radiation as a matter of fact, it cannot be seen directly. One way scientists have detected its presence is by looking at the rotation of galaxies. Strange enough, the outer parts of galaxies rotate as fast as the inner part of the galaxy. According to NASA, "This only makes sense if there is a spherical distribution of matter in each galaxy, which is not what we see. Therefore we infer that there is a certain amount of Dark Matter in each galaxy."

          One theory states that Dark Matter may be WIMPS (Weakly Interacting Massive Particles.) It would make perfect sense because WIMPS don't interact with electromagnetism (one of the four fundamental interactions), so they cannot be seen directly. Also, WIMPS don't interact with the strong nuclear force, so they don't interact with atomic nuclei, so once again, we can't notice WIMPS directly. Another theory states that Dark Matter could be gravity from another dimension. It would also make sense because we cannot directly detect other dimensions. In the Brane-World theory, the ends of strings (referring to the string theory) are attached to out brane, and can only move within the brane. However, the theory states that gravitons, (the hypothetical particle that carries out gravitation) are closed stings, like a donut, so are therefore not attached and can "seep" through other branes (in this case dimensions.)

          It seems that for a while, whatever Dark Matter truly is will remain a mystery for years to come.

Day 12: Breaking News With a Happy Ending

This is the box to my telescope that I can not use. On the box, there are two views of the controller that broke.

          When I say breaking news, I literally mean, BREAKING news. My initial intentions of this blog, was to take pictures with my camera using my electronic telescope. The telescope is capable of viewing numerous things such as Saturn's rings, the Andromeda Galaxy, and fly-by comets. The very first day of this assignment, I took my telescope and camera out to snap some photos. What I found is that my telescope's controller was broken. The controller is mainly used to control the telescope's zoom and direction and locate objects by time, date, GPS, and a compass. The telescope was still useable, but I had no way of locating the celestial bodies other than doing it manually, which would take hours of reading through manuals, locating the celestial body by a nearly impossible guess-and-check, and adjusting the telescope by hand which is extremely hard. In a panic, I emailed my English teacher, asking her for advice. She got back to me, and gave me the idea that is now my day 3.
          Miraculously, once I started writing my blog, new ideas came to me, and my intentions of this blog changed. This should teach me a future lesson to check that something works before committing to its use. Hopefully, when it comes time for a new project, these newfound skills will kick in!

Day 11: My Thoughts On Interesting NASA Articles

          Article links: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/03/090309-robots-moon-base.html
                               http://lunarscience.nasa.gov/articles/robots-may-start-moon-base-construction

          Around two and a half years ago I happened to stumble upon two articles pertaining to one of my biggest fantasies, colonization on other planets. Ever since I was about 6 years of age, I wanted to have humans living on other planets, with the ability to travel and communicate between planets. Actually, I was first inspired by Star Wars because not only was it my favorite movie series, but the colonization of numerous planets in the films was a very cool idea to me, and apparently still is to me to this day.
          Both articles are on the same topic, and they both cover the same materials. In summary, they describe NASA's plan to build a lunar outpost, possibly through the use of robots. Well, yes, this isn't quite colonization, nor will people be permanently living there, but the outpost will be permanently occupied, which is a step in the right direction. In fact, NASA has made it clear that they have intentions of building human housing nearby. The articles both state that a challenge for NASA will be preparing a landing area, because the launchpads would have to protect nearby human habitation, to be built later, from being sandblasted by the spacecraft. In the National Geographic article entitled Robots to Start Moon Base Construction?, written by Tim Hornyak, David Gump, the president of Astrobotic Technology Inc., said," The problem is real, and the question is how NASA will choose to solve it." It seems that NASA has hopes of the moon base being fully operational by 2024. NASA plans to have two remote-controlled robots build the landing site and lunar outpost in less than six months. The robots are supposed to be 330-pounds and the size of a riding lawn mover. The robots' primary mission is to build the launchpad as well as 8.5-feet-high walls around it.
          If this project carries out as planned, it could be a major scientific/technological breakthrough. I very much anticipate this event, and, hopefully, someday, we can colonize other planets.

Day 10: Heated Topics: Is there a creator to our Universe?

I first got the idea of this post from an episode of Through The Wormhole, in which they discussed the question of there being a creator to our universe.

          To be honest, I've heard enough of this topic. Being an atheist and an analytical thinker, it seems that wherever I go, I encounter pious people who just want to argue. Don't get me wrong, I'm actually blood-Quaker, and open to everyone's thoughts, and I respect everyone's opinions. I have no hard feelings whatsoever towards anyone who is religious, it's just when someone gets angry at me for believing that God doesn't exist, and that the Bible is completely inaccurate, then I get mad. I can recall numerous times when people asked why I believe something, so I explained it to them (without countering their thoughts or mentioning their religion or anything along those terms) and they became irate. So let me lay down my side of the story.
          Along with thousands of physicists worldwide, I believe in the Big-Bang theory, and have loads of evidence to back it up. According to the Big Bang theory, approximately 13.72 billion years ago, our Universe was in an extremely hot and dense state which rapidly expanded. Though Georges Lemaître, the Big Bang theorist, failed to give details on what the Universe expanded from, many modern physicists, such as Lawrence Krauss, believe the Universe expanded from a quantum fluctuation (the temporary change in the amount of energy in a point in space.) After the Universe's initial expansion, it cooled down to allow energy to be converted into sub-atomic particles. Thousands of years later, the sub-atomic particles met, and the first atoms were formed. The first element was hydrogen, along with some lithium and helium. Eventually, clouds of hydrogen condensed to form stars, and billions of years after that, other atoms coalesced through gravity, and formed more and more celestial bodies. Then, Earth finally came along, and biology and chemistry took part and made us. To prove this expansion true, scientists have observed many things such as red-shifts of almost all galaxies and cosmic background radiation.
          I am only just getting started with this data, and, also, professional physicists have loads more information than me to back up this theory as well. Modern-physicists could write multiple books just on this one topic. Next time, when someone tries to argue with me, they will be bombarded with pure fact.

Day 9: Stop SOPA! Unfair!

          Today I decided to take a step outside of the ordinary articles posted on this blog, and write about a current political issue. Most commonly known as SOPA, Stop Online Piracy Act, and PIPA, Protect IP Act, these bills, which were first proposed by Lamar Smith, would close down many user-content web-sites. Personally, I don't think Lamar anticipated the commotion that these bills would generate. By proposing these bills to Congress, Lamar had intentions of combating theft of property on the Internet. However, the only thing he got out of this was the disappointment of millions. One of those millions happens to be me.
          Honestly, I hate these bills. They impact me, as well as millions of people, in horrible ways that could change the way we live. My searches would be refined to a very small number of sites because many sites, such as YouTube, Wikipedia, and even this blog, would be closed down. One could argue that I don't really need YouTube. However, I'm on it every day, and I do occasionally reference it for necessities. Believe it or not, some people's careers either depended on it, or depend on it as of now. Also, reference sites like Dictionary.com, Merriam Webster, and Wikipedia won't be available. I use many of these sites on a daily basis because they help me with school work. I can't even recall the number of times that I had to use these for research projects, and, without them, I would've had a very hard time. On an estimation, I've read around 150-200 Wikipedia articles.
           So, what would happen without these? Well, the Internet life would go back to the 80s. One major purpose of these sites is to save time consumption. For many school projects, I look up articles and terms on the Internet. Without as much of the Internet, we can't look up topics in an online encyclopedia, or Wikipedia. We would have to drive half-an-hour to the local library, then find a book, look through the table of contents, and read 20 pages until we find an answer that might not even be satisfactory. If the Internet remains intact, this could all be reduced to a 10-second search with a satisfactory answer. We need to banish SOPA!

Day 8: Quantum Mechanics And Its Mysteries

An experiment involving quantum mechanics.

          I love quantum mechanics. It's probably one of my favorite topics in astrophysics because it makes no sense when you examine the laws of physics. There is so much controversy about it, and it's causing a big stir in the scientific world. For a while now, in science, quantum mechanics has been like an arrow pointing in multiple directions. The laws sometimes go against each other. For example, it seems that whenever something is proven, something else already proven suggests that it cannot be true, yet they are both proven to be true. That is one of the aspects that thrills me to learn about quantum mechanics.
          Quantum theory was first developed when Max Planck was doing an experiment and he realized that the laws of physics couldn't explain what had happened. This lead to the development of quantum mechanics. According to quantum mechanics, the atomic world is nothing like the world we live in. Quantum mechanics is, in a nutshell, a set of laws that govern the physical behaviors at the atomic and sub-atomic level. It deals with mathematical descriptions of the motion and interaction of subatomic particles, incorporating the concepts of quantization of energy, wave-particle duality, the uncertainty principle, and the correspondence principle. The uncertainty principle basically states that you cannot know both the position and momentum of a particle at the same time. The more precisely one is known, the less precise the other is. Another weird law in quantum mechanics states that the movement of the atomic/sub-atomic particles is completely random.
          Wave-particle duality is also a strange aspect. All particles act like both particles and waves, or, more accurately, are neither. They are undefined until someone looks at them or performs an experiment, therefore forcing them to be one or the other. Confusing, right? Looking at a particle can determine what it is. It makes no sense, and neither does this. Recently, I watched an episode of Through the Wormhole with Morgan Freeman. One scientist proposed the idea that particles can be in two places at once. Scientists are still debating about these topics, and from the looks of it, they will continue to for years to come. That's the beauty of quantum mechanics.

Day 7: Black Holes

            Black holes have always been one of my favorite topics in astrophysics, my favorite sub-section of science. One of the best parts about them is that the concepts of black holes require a strong understanding in topics that cosmologists either know little about or are still debating even exist. For this reason, there are so many possibilities to black holes. One of the things I often do in my spare time is read about black holes and watch documentaries on them. I’m always in hopes that I will find something new about them, but it seems that my thirst for knowledge is moving faster than the rate at which new discoveries are released. In other words, I’m up-to-date on the little information that we know about black holes. I’m still anticipating more information to be made available because it's not that often that publishings, that are new to me, are posted on the Internet. This leaves me to just wonder and contemplate. A great place that I’ve come to love in terms of new knowledge on black holes is the show Through the Wormhole with Morgan Freeman. This is definitely my favorite source of information because it’s very long, and it identifies not only facts, but numerous theories from other physicists. I love the aspect of theories being described by their originator because I don’t know enough to develop my own theories. This way, I can decide whose theory I believe and even tweak it a bit to better fit my own ideas. Generating my own opinions is very important because there are some things about black holes that we MAY NEVER be able to find out.

            Black holes are 4-dimensional regions of space-time with so much mass that nothing can escape them, not even light. According to most physicists, all things that exert a gravitational force can distort/create a dent in space-time, the hypothetical 4-dimensional space. Blacks holes are thought to be endpoints to massive stars because physicists believe that they form when a star undergoes a gravitational collapse (Gravitational collapses occur when an object is unable to sustain it’s own gravity, so it then collapses in) and the star's matter continues to collapse in on itself until it becomes so dense that it reaches a point of zero volume and infinite density. This creates what is called a singularity, the center of a black hole where the curved geometry of a space-time has reached it’s maximum.

            Light cannot escape black holes, hence the name, black hole. Believe it or not, photons have no mass. One may ask, “If photons have no mass, then how are they sucked into a black hole?” Well, it’s actually due to the distortion in the space-time continuum. The photons aren’t responding directly to the gravitational field, but rather to the curvature in space-time. Fascinating, isn’t it?

Day 6: The Sun; What Would We Do Without It?

The Sun

            The Sun. Light. These are things that we've come to take for granted because we've always been exposed to them. For generations we have depended on the Sun, and from the looks of it, nothing will change. In fact, throughout my whole life, the world as I know it practically runs off the Sun. It's something that I, personally, have always taken for granted. From when I entered the world, to this very second, the Sun has always been present. It brings back many memories when I recall countless times that I played outside during the summer, when it was hot and sunny out. I would always bike, or play basketball with my neighbors, or lacrosse with my dad, or baseball with my mom. Whatever I was doing, it was always thanks to the warmth of the Sun. But what would we do without the Sun?

Well, for starters, without the Sun, we wouldn’t even be here in the first place. If you look closely, you will indeed find a direct correlation between the Sun and life. Believe it or not, not all of the dinosaurs died from the asteroid’s impact. Yes, many of them did due to the colossal amounts of energy emitted from the impact. However, most of them died because the asteroid kicked up so much debris that it blocked out the Sun’s light, which in turn killed all of the photosynthetic plants and, eventually, crashed the food chain. This left the dinosaurs with little food.
If the Sun were to suddenly disappear we would still have energy, just not collected from the Sun. For the most part, initially, things would continue on. It would be very dark but we would still have lights. People could still drive with their headlights on, just like at night, except a bit darker. Kids would no longer play outside as much, and the temperature would drop. Doesn’t seem so bad, does it? Let’s analyze further and see what would happen after time goes by. Many plants would die, which would lead to the death of other animals that eat those plants. Animals that prey upon the plant eaters would die. People would have almost no food. The local farms and grocery stores would sell out of all their food in a few hours, and wouldn’t be able to resupply. After all the food is eaten, you may think that people would die. Honestly, I don’t even think that people would make it up to that point. With no sunlight, not only would the plants die, but also they wouldn’t be able to continue producing oxygen, because sunlight is required to perform photosynthesis. A few lucky plants that may live in greenhouses would still produce oxygen, but the amount wouldn’t be enough for humans to live off of. I imagine that people would shine all of their lights on the plants, but in all honesty, I don’t think it would work. Humanity would be doomed.

Day 5: Andromeda Galaxy+Theoretical Interview

Statue of Andromeda in a museum. Credit: Wikipedia

The Andromeda Galaxy. Credit: Wikipedia

 Video Credit: Wikipedia/NASA

The Andromeda Galaxy, also known as Messier 31, is a spiral galaxy that's located approximately 2.5 million light-years away from Earth. It is not the closest galaxy to the Milky Way, our galaxy, but it is, in fact, the closest spiral galaxy to the Milky Way. Actually, the Andromeda Galaxy wasn't always it's own galaxy. About 5-9 billion years ago, two smaller galaxies collided and formed the Andromeda Galaxy. Along with many other things in space, the Andromeda Galaxy was actually named after a character in Greek mythology, Andromeda.
Here, in this brief interview I conducted with her, she shares her story.

Me: So, who are you anyway?

Andromeda: I'm a princess, straight out of Greek Mythology.

Me: Is it true that you were supposed to be sacrificed to the Krackin?

Andromeda: Yes, it is true, however, I was saved by my husband Perceus.

Me: Can you elaborate more on that and share your story?

Andromeda: Sure. Well it all started with my mother, Queen Cassiopeia. She would boast of our beauty nonstop. I can assure you that she is actually a very nice person, yet, sadly, she has been stereotyped with the terms, "arrogant and vain."Anyway, she claimed that she and I were more beautiful than all the Nereids.

Me: Who are they?

Andromeda: The nymph-daughters of Nereus, the sea god.

Me: Oh.

Andromeda: Somehow, Poseidon, the head god of the sea, also one of the "Big Three Gods,"got involved and became ticked off. Now, I know that many of you modern society people still debate over whether Poseidon flooded the kingdom, or ordered the Krackin, Cetus, to destroy it, but, take it from me, he ordered Cetus to destroy the kingdom.

Me: Alright, I will.

Andromeda: Trying to save their kingdom, my mom and dad consulted an oracle, who told them that the only way to appease the sea gods was to sacrifice me to Cetus.

Me: So what did they do?

Andromeda: They went along with the plan and chained me naked to a rock on the coast, where Cetus was to come and eat me.

Me: Oh my gosh! And um...I thought you said your mother is nice.

Andromeda: She is, I promise. I guess she just figured that I was going to die either way, so she might as well sacrifice me instead of losing me, and everyone else. Also, if she had tried to save me, or if she had evacuated me, the punishment would've just gotten worse. And Poseidon wouldn't have stopped until that punishment was carried out with. And what could we possibly do to prevent attack from one of the "Big Three?"

Me: I suppose. Okay. I apologize and I take back what I said.

Andromeda: Apology accepted.

Me: So, after you got chained up, what happened?

Andromeda: Perseus, having just returned from decapitating Medusa...

Me: You mean the snake headed woman?

Andromeda: Yeah. That one.

Me: Alright, continue.

Andromeda: Perseus was returning back to the kingdom after having completed his mission. And I guess when he found me he was pretty surprised, so he devised a plan "off the bat..."

Me: And then he flew over using his shoes and used Medusa's head to freeze Cetus, right?

Andromeda: Close, but that's only in the movies.

Me: Oh.

Andromeda: In reality, he used the Helm of Hades, which is the invisibility cap, and then he showed Medusa's head to Cetus, which converted him to stone. He later freed me, and ever since we've lived happily together.

Me: How long is ever since?

Andromeda: About 4-5 thousand years. In the Early Bronze Age.

Me: Wow. So, switching topics, how does it feel to have the Andromeda Galaxy named after you?

Andromeda: Well, considering that I'm practically famous, I'm pretty used to all acknowledgement, but it feels really good. It feels honorable to know that a galaxy is named after me. It makes me feel like I have power; like I'm somebody.

Me: Well, that's good. It was nice talking with you. Maybe I'll see you later in another possible interview.

Andromeda: Maybe.

Me: Goodbye.

Andromeda: Goodbye.

Day 4: APM 08279+5255

This artist's concept illustrates a quasar, or feeding black hole, similar to APM 08279+5255, where astronomers discovered huge amounts of water vapor. Credit: NASA/ESA 

APM 08279+5255 from an artist's perspective. Credit: Wikipedia

This is the ocean at South Beach, Miami. When you look at it, doesn't it amaze you how much water there is just in that one fraction of the ocean? Well, wait until you compare that to the water reservoir located more than 12 billion light years away. The water is equivalent to 140 trillion times all the water in the world's ocean. According to NASA, "It surrounds a feeding black hole, called a quasar."

A few months ago, two teams of astronomers found the largest and farthest reservoir of water so far in the universe. To put things in perspective, U.S.G.S. estimates there to be approximately 1,338,000,000 cubic kilometers of water in Earth's ocean. There's 1 trillion liters in a cubic kilometer. That's 1.33800*10^21 liters of water in our ocean. Sounds like a lot, huh? Well, put it in contrast with the amount of water surrounding APM 08279+5255. There's 140 trillion times the amount of all the water in Earth's ocean surrounding APM 08279+5255.

APM 08279+5255 is a feeding black hole, which can also be called quasars, more than 12 billion light-years away. Quasars, by definition, are very energetic, active galactic nuclei. Active galatic nuclei (AGN) are galaxies that spew massive amounts of energy from their center. According to NASA, "A quasar is powered by an enormous black hole that steadily consumes a surrounding disk of gas and dust. As it eats, the quasar spews out huge amounts of energy." And, incase you were wondering, water vapor is the gaseous state of water. We can infer that this quasar, APM 08279+5255 is "feeding off"the water vapor. Actually, believe it or not, the water vapor is distributed around the black hole in a gaseous region hundreds of light-years long, and every light year is 6 trillion miles long.

Interesting Fact: APM 08279+5255, harbors a black hole that is 20 billion times the size of our sun and it produces as much energy as a quadrillion suns.

Day 3: The Moon

Full moon 1/8/12

Full moon 1/8/12

The moon put in perspective with nearby stars

          Tonight, there was a beautiful full moon and a cloudless sky. It wasn't very cold outside, and the setting resembled what you would expect out of a spring night. I decided to go outside, sit down in a chair in my backyard, and admire the Moon. More distant in sky, I could observe the many stars and other celestial bodies (a natural object which lies outside of Earth's atmosphere.) When you looked at them collectively, it was a beautiful sight. I felt it to be impossible to refrain from gazing. Also, I could see moonlight illuminating the grass in my backyard. The leaves appeared to glisten. It looked like something out of a movie. To me, it's always been mind-blowing when I put it in perspective how far away these monstrous bodies are. I find it interesting to think, "Wow. The distance of almost entire emptiness between us, and the Moon and stars, is massive." Another thing I find interesting is the fact that there could be other civilizations living on those celestial bodies, hundreds of light years away.
         The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. (A celestial body that orbits a planet or other body.) Relative to the size of the Earth, the Moon is the largest natural satellite of a planet in the solar system, with one fourth of Earth's diameter. Sadly, the Moon is in synchronous rotation with Earth, so we will only see one side of it. Actually, the only way we can even see the Moon is due to the Sun. With an Albedo of .136, the Moon doesn't emit any of it's own light, for it has none. Rather, the Sunlight reflects off the Moon and that is why we can see the Moon, and why we see moonlight.

Day 2: Castor and Pollux

Castor and Pollux in the sky

Castor and Pollux Statues

          Did you ever find it ironic how Castor and Pollux, two stars in the night sky, have the same names of the Greek mythological figures? Well, they actually have a direct relationship. The stars' names derive from one of my favorite Greek mythology tales; the tale of Castor and Pollux. Castor and Pollux were both born to the same mother, Leda, however, Castor was the mortal son of Tyndareus, while Pollux was the immortal son of Zeus. When Castor was killed, Pollux asked Zeus if he could share his immortality with Castor to keep them together. Zeus transformed them into the constellation Gemini, the latin term used to define the twins.
          Castor, the star, is the second brightest star in the constellation Gemini. Castor is 49.8 light years away from the Earth. Despite the fact that Castor (Alpha Geminorum) has the Bayer designation, "Alpha," it is actually dimmer than Pollux, (Beta Geminorum.) This is weird because Bayer assigned each star a Greek letter in order of brightness, from brightest to dimmest.
          Pollux is an orange giant star, and is scientifically classified as HD 62509. It's 34 light years away from Earth. Pollux is the brightest star in the constellation. In 2006, it was discovered to have an exoplanet orbiting it.

Day 1: Alpha Centauri Multiple Star System

Alpha Centauri AB in contrast with Proxima Centauri (Alpha Centauri 3)

Alpha Centauri A and B

Icarus at the Edge of Time, a book related to Alpha Centauri.

          The other night, I was looking over my bookshelf when I stumbled upon a favorite of mine; Icarus at the Edge of Time. It's a classic tale of disobedience and ignorance towards one's parents. It's about a boy named Icarus who was born into a multi-generational spacecraft and flew away in a separate spaceship towards a black hole. In hopes of seizing the rare opportunity of observing it up close, Icarus, despite his father's warnings, ignorantly got a bit too close and became trapped in the warped space-time. When he returned to where the main spacecraft initially was, he found himself surrounded by thousands of spaceships that weren't his. After boarding one and conversing with a pilot, he discovered that he was 5,000 years into the future, and that his family was long gone.

          This book reminded me of the multiple star system, Alpha Centauri, because of the spaceship's name, Proxima Centauri. A multiple star system consists of three or more stars which orbit each other, bound by a gravitational attraction. Alpha Centauri consists of three stars, Alpha Centauri A and Alpha Centauri B, and a red-dwarf star, Alpha Centauri C, also known as Proxima Centauri. Placed at only 4.2 light years aways, Proxima Centauri is best known as being the second closest star to Earth, the first being the Sun. When put in perspective, the Sun is much larger than Proxima Centauri. The Sun's diameter is 7 times that of Proxima Centauri's, and the Sun's mass is 8 times as great.

          Alpha Centauri A is the brightest star in the Southern constellation of Centaurus. Along with Proxima Centauri, it's properties are much different than the Sun's. It's mass is 110% that of the Sun's and it's luminosity is 151.9% that of the Sun's. Alpha Centauri B, on the other hand, has only 90.7% of the Sun's mass and 50% of it's luminosity.
          These stars have been a wonder since 1915, and to this day still gain loads of attention. They are among some of the most commonly known stars, and scientists plan to someday be able to venture to Alpha Centauri and see for themselves how amazing these stars truly are.