astronomy....and me!!

One of the subjects that usually catch my enthusiasm is astronomy. It is by far i think, one of the most, if not the most complex subjects known to human knowledge. As far that i can remember, this all started with a school trip to planetarium when i was in standard 5 or 4. A year later, when i was in standard 6, i was chosen to represent the state (Perak of course) to the National Science Camp. It took place in Taman Rimba Komanwel, Rawang for a week. Each state sent 4 reps making in total of about 60-70 students from all over Malaysia. It was pretty exciting, given the fact that it was my first experience meeting other students from other parts of Malaysia, and after a brief summary of the schedule for the week, it seemed to be getting more interesting as there were stuff like jungle trekking, birds hunting, secret of the jungle and the best of all was the Astronomy session. Im not lying, but during this session i got to watch the Moon and the Jupiter using a very2 big and high-tech telescope brought by the 2 reps from the Planetarium Malaysia that night.

I was amazed!! Never thought that i would ever get the chance to look at the surface of the moon that clearly. I felt so close to the moon as if i can grab it.(that was how i thought back then, u know standard 6 level of thinking:) ) That was when i learned few things about the Jupiter. As we all know that it is the largest planet in our solar system. And if observed closely, Jupiter has a small red dot on its surface in which 3 earths can be put inside!!! Remarkably that gave me a clear picture of the actual size of that massive planet relative to the one we are living on....Today, that knowledge has become the basis of my understanding about the concept of The Creator and the creation. Just sit and think about this and u will realize how small a creature we are.........

We are one of those creations of God called the HoMosapiens(human); the inhabitants of the planet called, the Earth. Our planet, among the 8 planets(Pluto is no longer a planet) in the solar system, is situated not too close to the source of energy, the Sun, but close enough to allow all the ecosystems checked and balanced hence to support lives living on it. The sun, undoubtedly is the most important object in our solar system without which all the physics, and the biological basis of life will come to an end. However the Sun is only another ordinary stars of that millions of stars that u see in the sky. Science has proven that, in the galaxy we live; The Milky Way(Bima Sakti), there are millions of solar systems like ours out there. Current knowledge of science also has led human to understand that the MIlky Way, is just one of the millions of galaxies known to exist in this world!!!So, how big actually is the universe?? Only God the Creator, the all knowing knows. We muslims learned from the story of Isra' and Mi'raj, the night when The Prophet was brought to see The Creator, there were actually 7 layers or levels of the Universe, and the one we discussed just now, the galaxies and all, encompass only the very first level!!So that may give us the clear picture of the concept of God;The Creator The all-knowing and us, the creation. Relative to the size of the universe, we are actually smaller than the size of an atom. So let us be reminded, who we are actually.......no body!!!

Before i end this entry, i would like to share with all of u one fact about the universe.....
Do u guys know when scientists talk bout the 'Lightyears' ,what exactly it means???
A Light-year is actually a unit of distance(not time as some may think).It is a distance that light can travel in one year. Light travels at a very top speed of 300 000km/sec, equivalent to distance covered if u circle the earth 7 times!!! So in 1 year, light travels 9,500,000,000,000 kilometers (about 10Trillion km) and this equal to 1 light year. Just to put things into perspective here, the reason why this unit is used, is simply because the universe is just sooo huge that km per se is useless. The next closest star from earth is 4.2 light years away.(4.2x10Trillion km). In other words, if the light travels from earth, it takes 4.2 years to reach to that star, and say if there is another solar system over there with a group of scientists doing the same calculation now, the light they are seeing from our solar system came in the year 2003. The nearest galaxy to ours Milky Way is Andromeda Galaxy, and it is 2.3 million light-years away. In other words, at this moment, they are seeing light from us that came 2.3 million years ago.......about 100million years post Jurassic period. And finally, if one day( which i doubt) men were to travel across our galaxy, guess how long do they have to take????....150 000 years... provided we can travel as fast as the light!!!!
So that's it. Fascinating isn't it?Hope u enjoy it....