Shades of Reality- exploring the universe

James Webb Space Telescope Introducing the gamechanger in the field of observational astronomy Ahhhh! I'm losing my mind over the launch of the famed James Webb Space Telescope 🔭 that is scheduled to launch no earlier than Christmas Day 2021 aboard the European Space Agency 's [ESA's] Ariane 5 rocket! A view of the JWST Image credit: The Verge Is there anything more exciting and frustrating and nerve wracking than this?! 😰🤗 The launch has already been postponed countless times before, and I can't believe that it is finally happening! 🥳 The JWST folded inside the Ariane 5 rocket Image credit: scitechdaily.com But, let us first address some important questions. What is the James Webb Space Telescope? The logo of the JWST mission Image credit: nasa.gov The James Webb space telescope is exactly what it sounds like- it is a telescope hovering in space, so that it can collect light from the universe and conduct observations of stars, planets and entire galaxies far away,

  Introducing the ultimate, cosmic debunker of Flat Earth We all know that the Earth is flat  spherical in shape- but have you ever wondered why? I have! As a little kid, I used to believe that there was something special about a sphere itself- some mathematical beauty or symmetry that made it a popular choice for a planet shape . Turns out, it is a favorite shape, not of any human's but of gravity 's- the sculptor of the universe! The shape of the Earth- a sphere [Note the vertical lines- they are called  longitudes , while the horizontal, parallel ones are called  latitudes ] Image credit: Wikimedia Platonic solids Why can't the planets be any of these shapes? Image credit: Cuemath  G ravity - Gravity is one of the  four fundamental forces which govern the universe. It is generally understood as an attractive force, which causes all bodies with mass to be attracted toward each other, [ Newtonian picture of gravity ] but its picture has changed tremendously, with Einstein

An introduction to the friendly monster in our backyard The Sun is the big daddy of the solar system. No exaggeration. It is 1.4 million km across and has a mass of 1.989 *10^30 kg . That is 330,000 times more than Earth's mass. If that is not BIG to you, I don't know what is! This is the famous image of the sun in false color (orange-red) Image credit: nasa.gov The Sun in visible light through a solar filter with sunspots- notice it appears white Image credit: www.wikipedia.org The Sun almost certainly does not look like this. Image credit: pinclipart.com According to Phys.org, it is a hot sphere of glowing plasma at the center of the solar system that produces the equivalent of 384.6 septillion watts (3.846×1026 W) every. single. second, through the process of nuclear fusion. Not only is it huge, but it also governs all the activities of the solar system- from keeping all the planets in orbit and providing them warmth, to enabling life on the Earth itself.  The Sun is a