Notes from Chad...

10th of April 2000

Our Sun, by far the most massive entity in our solat system.  It accounts for over 95% of our solar system's mass.

Astronomy:

This is one of the most interesting subjects around.  Why?  Just think how incredible our Universe is!  Consider this:  There are a few hundred billion stars in the typical galaxy.  How big is that?  Well, it would take you about 50 years to count to a billion if you counted one number a second for 16 hours a day.  So, there you are spending most of your life while awake counting away.  FOR FIFTY YEARS!  That's big!  Incidently, there are millions of galaxies near us.  Luckily, it would only take about 16 minutes to count to a million!  That's Big!  Oh, and each ot these galaxies has a lot of stars.  In fact, we know of the existance of a huge number of stars.  How many?  Well, look around you and think of all the people you know.  Then think of all their relatives.  Oh, think of all those people's relative, friends, pets, etc...  In fact, there are more stars in the sky than people who have EVER lived on this planet, EVER!  That's a lot of stars.  And our sun, which is 300,000 times the size of earth, is small compared to most stars!  Obviously, the universe is fascinating!

For more, visit the following web link.  It features all the facts about everything you can possibly imagine and it will likely hurt your brain with how amazing the cosmos really is!  It also features cool things like the nuke-like explosions on Jupiter.  Anyway, enjoy it!

Source: Astronomy 3rd Edition, Chaisson
Pics from above link.

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