Alright ladies and gents this a good thread minus all the religious/non-religious talk. I recently began watching "How the Universe Works" on
netlfix. It is a Discovery channel series covering all topics of what we know and don't know about the universe. One question I had while watching
the series that was subsequently answered later in the season was "How are the heavier elements like gold and silver made in the Universe?." Turns
out the most violent of star deaths a Hyper-Nova produces these elements in the brief seconds of the final end of the star in a spectacular explosion.
That explosion lights up the entire galaxy for years. One of the first super-nova ever witnessed by modern humans was in 1987 and so aptly named
SN1987a.
SN1987a
Turns out this explosion is still being observed and still happening from our point of view check the link it is pretty cool.
Another interesting topic they were covering was dark matter. Dark matter seems to hold galaxies and space "together" from what I can tell. Without
it stars would be flying all over the place and galaxies wouldn't form. Also, at the center of the galaxies is a super massive black hole that is
light-years across in diameter.
One of the more interesting photos I've ever seen was a cosmic map made by researchers at the Max Planck Institute. It is a map that maps the
galaxies in our universe and looks at the location and closeness I would call it of our neighboring galaxies the result is this pic
A web of the universe. Lighter parts represent accumulations of galaxies and the darker area represents areas of dark matter.
The universe is simply unfathomable and fascinating!
