Throwing Tools from Orbit, Sun's Place in the Galaxy, Reusing Parts of ISS | Q&A 267

[@Raz.C]

Thanks, Fraser, for crushing- so expertly- the notion that "Black Holes are tunnels to another place/ time." My response is the same, though not so kindly worded, as yours. I just find it frustrating that so many people seem so keen to forget what a black hole IS, when they start speculating about what they hope it might possibly be.

[@mshepard2264]

yea definitely.

[@banksuvladimir]

Lol what are you babbling about? The concept of wormholes literally involves black holes. Wormholes may not exist, but it’s been a serious consideration that black holes could link to other universes. So I wonder where you get your smug attitude from when you’re just flat wrong.

[@ltousch]

The metaphor of the frog in front of a blender got me!

[@TheBiggreenpig]

Yeah, especially, because it is impossible to survive even closing in on the event horizon. There is super hot matter swirling around it.

[@ncdave4life]

Chulak. I had no idea that the spiral arms are density waves. Thanks for educating me!

[@NorthernChev]

Fraser is ABSOLUTELY correct! I’ve done “sidewalk astronomy” twice in the last few years and you’ll quickly find you had fifteen or more friends you never knew were roaming around unbeknownst to you all these years.

[@frasercain]

Fantastic

[@OzoneTheLynx]

The Wave at the stadium is such a great analogy. Will have to steal that for explanations of my own for such concepts.

[@joaodecarvalho7012]

I like the idea that at the beginning of time, matter and antimatter annihilated each other, but random fluctuations produced a little bit more matter than antimatter, and that little bit is today's universe.

[@Trip_Ts]

uh, the smallest part of matter is a quark so shouldn't they call it antielement? that sidetracked me the point I'm trying to make is does it become another form of matter or nothingness?

[@zmc33]

still left with a huge question. at the beginning of time, where did the matter come from to annihilate with anti-matter?

[@LoricSwift]

And we don't know what is beyond the edge of the observable universe, we assume it is the same but there is no way to know. There could be regions where antimatter dominates purely because of random fluctuations, or there is no matter of any kind at all.

[@rgerber]

same with "intelligent" life. The exchanging forces between matter trying to escape (gases?) and the gravitational pull trying to pull them back

[@MemeticsX]

A question for Fraser about star formation: If stars form after a certain critical amount of mass has accumulated, starting the fusion process, and a star's solar winds exert pressure outward from the star, then how are super-giant stars able to form? Wouldn't a newly-formed star's solar winds blow away any additional mass in the gas cloud nursery, preventing the cloud from forming a larger star? Or does the gravitation of a massive-enough stellar nursery simply overpower the star's outward energy until equilibrium is reached?

[@taeron6952]

I cannot pick the single best thing, so I will say: Alaris, Edora and Jenev were good questions and good answers! Keep up the good work!

[@walkman1269]

I have no "astronomy" friends. I was able to talk my wife and son into watching the recent solar eclipse. Great memory.

[@STSKSP]

I like giving people the speed of the ISS in miles per second. One, it's more impressive, but two, I think it's easier for someone to comprehend what moving 4.8 miles a second looks like.

[@savagesarethebest7251]

Nah, then you have to multiply by 1.6 to get to normal units.

[@STSKSP]

@savagesarethebest7251 I live in the US so giving it to them in kps would defeat the purpose of helping them visualize it.

[@BestBFam]

Thank you for all the joy your reporting has brought to me over the years. I’ve loved space since I was a young girl and you have been my guide since I first found your newsletter about 18 years ago now.

[@timbrown9905]

I laughed a good deal with the frog looking into the blender, thank you for that!

[@SidMajors]

About Kerbal Space Program: I would like to add that one should buy the first game. The second game has been halted for now and is not being developed after it flopped. Potentially going to be cancelled. KSP1 is A LOT of fun though, biiiig recommend.

[@ParadiseMagic04]

@@SidMajors it is a shame about ksp2. Kerbal is one of my favorite games in my library

[@NarwahlGaming]

I'm glad I didn't jump on board on launch day of KSP2. I heard nothing but nightmares about all along. I still play KSP1 regularly after 10 years ' and I still haven't ventured outside my 2 closest neighbors: Eve and Duna. 😂 Now I'm inspired to try for Jool. 🤗

[@SidMajors]

@@NarwahlGaming Oh man I feel you :P I have a few hundred hours in the game and only scratched the surface 😅

[@Mr76Pontiac]

The only thing I'd add to the question about the wrench is that it will eventually come back to earth due to atmospheric drag. It's why the station pushes the gas pedal every once in a while to maintain orbit. Although the atmosphere is SUPER thin up there, it's not zero resistance. It may take a few decades for that wrench to "come home" but it'll get there.

[@caldodge]

The old battery pack discarded from ISS had a much greater mass to surface area ratio than a wrench, and it took less than 4 years to reenter the atmosphere. The wrench would probably take even less time to do so.

[@Mr76Pontiac]

@@caldodge Mass and surface area come into play, yes. Less area of the wrench for molecules to slow it down, but, less mass means it's easier to put the brakes on, so to speak. I sincerely don't know the math to figure out which would brake harder. Either way, objects in LEO don't stay there forever.

[@michaelmcchesney6645]

@@Mr76Pontiac An object with less surface area but more mass will take longer to deorbit than an object with less mass but more surface area. I've never played Kerbal Space Program as the only video game I play is Spider Solitaire. A large percentage of what I know about orbital mechanics (which is not very much about it) I learned by reading Exo by Steven Gould. That is the most recent sequel to the novel Jumper which was about a kid who discovers he has the power to teleport himself. It was made into a Doug Liman film that starred Hayden Christiansen. That was a beautifully shot film with a really stupid plot. The novel was much better. Exo is about the teenage daughter of the kid from Jumper who discovers she can not only teleport but also come out of the jump with any velocity and direction she wishes. She gets herself a spacesuit and decides to start a satellite delivery service. I know that may sound dumb, but it's actually a really good book. Aside from the ability to teleport, it otherwise is a hard science story. I highly recommend it.

[@NimsChannel]

​@@michaelmcchesney6645I'd suggest the movie Explorers. It's from the 1980's.

[@geekswithfeet9137]

@@caldodgenah the battery pack definitely doesn’t have the frontal area/ mass of solid steel. But it is comparable.

[@aalhard]

17:55 Sir, you win the Internet with that black hole comparison😂😂 Frog\blender=human\bh😊

[@goldenbear8696]

Many years ago , on holiday in Norway, I collected a small lump of granite from a quarry. I subsequently discovered that the lump is some 400 million years old . So now I look at it each day knowing it has been round the entire galaxy , twice. Interesting.

[@prasah18]

did you do a carbon dating? and why?

[@dieselgoinham]

You went to a quarry on vacation?

[@simonmorris-p7m]

@@prasah18carbon dating only works for biological stuff- wood, charcoal, bone etc. most areas have good geological info available which dates the strata, granite or gneiss is often the oldest layer.

[@eamonia]

Whoa. Talk about mileage...

[@bdr420i]

I'm very sorry but only your voice makes me sleep at night but then I return in the morning to watch your videos you and your team are a gift from heaven and we love you ❤️

[@MrBishop077]

Hebridan, Thank you for the extra explanation in the second half of the answer. It is something i had wondered about often, and had a guess similar to your answer but never knew for 'sure'.

[@ReinReads]

Chulak I absolutely love learning something that catches me off guard. I feel I have a solid understanding of the galaxy around us after watching our knowledge about it evolve over the last 40+ years. I would have never guessed that is how spiral arm motion works. Truly fascinating.

[@ltousch]

Alaris. I love the way you're explaining it. It was so clear and precise. The best answer of the video.

[@JAGzilla-ur3lh]

Cartego. I wasn't aware of the meme, and it's really kind of an interesting observation that Mercury is on average the closest planet to every other planet.

[@dougirvin2413]

Alaris...great way to explain our place in the universe! It's all I can do to figure out Google Maps! Keep up the good work, we're all counting on you!

[@poiu477]

I read somewhere that yes, while antimatter is insanely prohibitively expensive, we've only really ever tried to make small amounts, enough for things like CERN, and there are more efficient processes, we just don't have a current reason to need them.

[@tonywells6990]

To make a tool fall back to Earth (from the space station) within a few 93 minute orbits you only need to throw it behind you (good luck with that!) at about 200 metres/second or about 460 miles per hour. That way it should drop low enough to start re-entering the Earth's atmosphere, and spacecraft returning to Earth usually do a burn of 200m/s.

[@pzuliomaccavellion9711]

Love the frog looking into the blender analogy.

[@tylorbarker9287]

would be really cool to catch up to the Voyagers and give them a refurbishment and a boost.

[@donsample1002]

If you could catch them, you have the ability make something a lot better, going a lot faster.

[@DanielVerberne]

​@donsample1002 which brings to mind the notion of the "Wait/Walk dilemma". Should we set off now to Proxima with chemical propulsion for the initial kick then solar sails for the remainder of the hundreds of years flight time? Or do we hold off an unknown number of years in the expectation we'll have mastered matter/anti-matter production and containment and realise a < human life travel time?

[@zmc33]

@@DanielVerberne wouldn't it suck to be on the first ship and see an updated ship zip right by you?

[@tylorbarker9287]

@@DanielVerberne what if something that we learn from data transmitted back to earth from a probe is what leads to us developing that next level tech?

[@UBH-asdf9]

If you could do all that, why don’t you just take your new technology and keep going?

[@bbartky]

*Cartego* That’s the best explanation of why Mercury is the closest planet to the Earth I’ve heard.

[@hive_indicator318]

Ardena, because finding other nerds who share our hobbies is important. And your local library might have telescopes that you can check out. But I don't see a good reason to not visit the library every so often. I live in a smaller city, so all the cool stuff isn't just in the metro areas

[@Terry-m7n]

Love the channel, I'll think of a question next time

[@archmage_of_the_aether]

Try "what would be a good question to ask?"

[@Raz.C]

CARTEGO gets my vote for "best in show" I laughed my arse off when Fraser explained that bit at the end, where Mercury is closer, on average, to EVERY planet in the solar system. I dunno why I found that funny. It wasn't from disbelief; I concur 100% with the findings. I just find it funny, for some reason.

[@saquist]

Hebridan, that was a really good question!

[@jgbreezer]

9:34 reference mention for the de-orbiting an object question involving orbital mechanics - Scott Manley did a good video with animated diagrams showing how that works. It's 6yrs ago, an 11 minute video here on KZbin currently called "The Most Confusing Things About Spacecraft Orbits" (found it in my viewing history after a minute). He did another one just before it about this same question called "Could An Astronaut Throw Something From Orbit To Earth?" which is less mathematical and not into the details so much.

[@kennethroberts6993]

Arena- This is true regardless of the topic these days. The idea of setting up in public outside a reasonably populated venue whose clientele might be interested in your hobby is really interesting

[@harryebbeson]

Asuria a great question and answer!

[@jpeterd92]

Ardena, The hardest part I find about conversation about space in local vacuums is that sound can't travel in a vacuum.

[@eamobyrne1]

Really good episode Fraser, especially how you spoke about finding like minded people ❤

[@jgbreezer]

12:23 Maybe this void question was referring to the "Local Bubble" space around the sun, that was research/news item in 2022 (e.g. a ScienceAlert article January 2022 "The Solar System Exists Inside a Giant, Mysterious Void, And We Finally Know Why"), a.k.a. Local Cavity - a "relative cavity in the interstellar medium (ISM) in the Orion Arm of the Milky Way". The "G-cloud" is also talked about in this reference, local collection of solar systems and gas - at least 300 light years across.

[@chris-terrell-liveactive]

Chulak - it sounds like the stars in the milky way are moving a bit like traffic on a motorway, spread out for a while until somebody brakes and causes a temporary tailback that appears to travel back along the line of vehicles.

[@mikhailb5645]

This was a very down-to-earth question show 😂

[@patrickbryan]

Thanks for another enlightening session!

[@paamodt7170]

😂 "Wet coast of Canada", where I am it's either the light pollution of the Puget Sound or the wet season. I was lucky to get some auroras with a long exposure earlier this year. Most were washed out from the lights. I've convinced most of my neighbors to change their outside lighting. However, thanks to the remaining ones, I don't need any light for a midnight walk around the property. Access to be able to romote view would be great

[@christiandesalliers4663]

Chulak : WOW! That means the solar system will eventually find itself outside the Orion Arm. I never would have thought! Thanks Fraser for claifying the univers for me ;)

[@notmyname327]

Chulak! I had no idea the spiral arms were kind of a gravity wave, really interesting

[@Shawn_M]

I learned about orbital mechanics reading 'Seveneves'. Prints actually made sense after that

[@smorrow]

Radio goes in a straight line from the ISS to the ground. So somewhere _between_ rocket speeds and the speed of light is a speed that can take you to the ground directly.

[@briandeschene8424]

If looking for people of like-minded interests, check out your local community college(s). They often hold after hours, non-credit classes in various subjects. My wife and I have met other individuals and couples who shared our interest in wine tasting, bread making, a specific foreign language, as our examples. My interest in all things “space” were supported by a local museum which holds stargazing gatherings as part of their public outreach.

[@frasercain]

I love that suggestion

[@briandoe5746]

​@@frasercainso the sun actually wobbles around the milkeyway up and down on the "plate" structure as it circles around.

[@Paplu-i5t]

The best thing I liked in this discussion is the crucial clarification that a black hole is no hole. It is just an extremely dense star which happens to be so dense that not even light can escape from it. Escape velocity greater than C. Now it is always possible that we would find stars in the future that are of larger and larger event horizons that would fall into classes. The myths and speculations regarding what a Black hole can do in the non scientific domain or science fiction has been only because the name is Black hole. It should have been named Black Star and none of that speculation, misunderstanding, expectations would have occurred. This speculation has also percolated into the scientific community without evidence. Its just Black Star and like a Black body radiation it absorbs all light, reflects or emits none. Thanks.

[@smartyy86]

Question: In Alaris you described in awesome detail the Orbit of our Sun in the Milky Way. One orbit takes 12mio Years, which means that we only have reliable data for some decades? how, and with what error margins can be rely on such information, especially since dark matter seems to interfere with the rotation of galaxies, dependent on the amount of dark matter (Which we don't know?): how is the statistical reliability on such data?

[@BigTimeRushFan2112]

dark matter is philosophy, not science. so don't worry about it.

[@filonin2]

@@BigTimeRushFan2112 Words of ignorance.

[@BigTimeRushFan2112]

@@filonin2 come find me when you can show me proof of your philosophical fantasy (aka Dark Matter/Energy). Till then, its speculation that shows me most in this field are still clueless as to how this universe actually works. That's why its philosophy, and always will be because even someone less educated than myself looks at this puzzle with common sense and determines this is fraudulent science at best.

[@BabyMakR]

Jenev. I agree that it is sad and it seems like a waste but it has to happen. The comments saying to raise the orbit of the ISS is only a good idea if you really want to start a Kessler syndrome event. However I hope that before they do the deorbit, maybe include some Anthropologists on the final mission to bring things back and do a space walk or 2 and bring back some sections of the mats and shields and sections that have had micrometeorite impacts over the decades. While it can't stay up there and we can't bring it back intact, we can save some of it. It has been a hugely important part of our history and efforts should be made so that future people can see it and be close to it.

[@attilajuhasz2526]

Hi Fraser, brilliant content! Perhaps a better analogue for density waves (than Mexican Waves) is the density waves that propagate through heavy highway traffic. We see stop/start at places where there seems no reason to expect slowing cars, except that the car in front had slowed a moment earlier. Cheers, from Down Under. Ps Ardena; I love the "community" explanation.

[@blairseaman461]

Such a bummer, man. We live out in the boondocks. Nothing ever happens out here. All the excitement happens in the center. GAH!

[@Spherical_Cow]

It's all the excitement that tends to periodically sterilize everything in the neighborhood. "Boring" is good if the goal is to spend billions of years gradually evolving life until it attains advanced levels of intelligence and technology.

[@blairseaman461]

@@Spherical_Cow Yup. Good point, but I'm still gonna continue construction on my shelter for when that other galaxy gets here. I even have an awesome collection of Space Pens just in case...so...you know...prepared! Ciao

[@ericv738]

You sound like Luke in episode 4 heh

[@blairseaman461]

@@ericv738 Yup. Got my paperwork in at the academy, but Uncle Owen won't let me go. I guess I'm goin nowhere. GAH!

[@blairseaman461]

​@@ericv738 Could be worse, though dude. Ever been to Jakku? Pretty much nowhere.

[@gyrateful]

This makes my brain happy.

[@laurachapple6795]

Asuria. All I can think of is the scene in the MST3K movie where Mike drops the Hubble.

[@Chocwish]

By far, this is the best question show I've seen! Also.. Chulak

[@anthonyshiels9273]

There was a diagram on the wall in the Master's Classroom in my Primary School that depicted the Milky Way viewed from an outside point at an elevation of about 40 degrees. There was an arrow pointing to a place about halfway between the centre and the edge. The caption read: Our Solar System is located somewhere in this area.

[@tylorbarker9287]

oh hey, I caught this one live :P

[@timbrown9905]

Question: I understand that from a observational prospective, it goes without saying that we tend to look at things from a prospective where Sol is more or less the center of the universe. The question I have is are we able to account for our perspective when we observe the universe and if so, how?

[@ZaphodHugzington]

Yay team Fraser Cain! Keep kicking butt!

[@joeblackman100]

Talking about the width of the galaxy, what’s the depth?

[@frasercain]

A few thousand light years

[@DingbatToast]

Regarding the wrench. If you throw a wrench down towards the earth. Its orbital speed remains constant with the space station. But as the wrench gets closer to earth, doesn't its speed increase, like spinning in an office chair and you pull your legs in to spin faster? Which would throw the wrench into a higher orbit? So throwing the wrench away from the earth would actually slow the orbit and cause it to fall closer to the earth and eventually atmospheric drag would slow it and it would continue to deorbit or burn up?

[@jeremyeharris]

Chulak. I learned something I didn't know today. Thank you

[@KenMathis1]

About space travel being profitable... At current levels of use, we will run out of known phosphorus reserves, which is essential for life, in around 80 years.That should create a mighty big demand to mine for it off planet, like on the moon.

[@fk319fk]

The wrench is thrown in space. A better question is, what is the escape velocity at the space station?

[@Spherical_Cow]

Not appreciably different than the escape velocity at Earth's surface - which is about 11.2 km/s. ISS is already moving at 7.7 km/s, so starting from the ISS you'd only need to add another 3.5 km/s to escape from Earth's gravitational well (but you'll still be orbiting the Sun, not to mention the Milky Way's center of mass.)

[@hive_indicator318]

​​@@Spherical_Cowa mere 12,600 km/hr? (It looked easily achievable until I did the math. lol)?

[@Spherical_Cow]

@@hive_indicator318 it's only slightly more than Mach 10. No big deal 🙃

[@stoobydootoo4098]

​@@Spherical_CowMach 10? Based upon what temp/altitude? M=39rootK . So at 33000'/-50•C M is c 580kts.

[@Spherical_Cow]

@@stoobydootoo4098 at sea level, duh

[@rickyderoock9821]

Alaris haha thanks for answering Fraser! Cheers

[@madderhat5852]

ISS? What we have here is a Do'er'upper. A perfect home for first time buyers but advised to flip quickly. Really quickly.

[@pauldavis1943]

Great idea to take your telescope to a public place. We do this with our spotting scope when we hunt for whales. Always cool to see someone cry when they see a whale for the first time. Same thing with Saturn. 😊

[@murasaki848]

0:35 "Our galaxy itself contains a hundred billion stars. It's a hundred thousand light years side to side. It bulges in the middle, sixteen thousand light years thick, but out by us it's just three thousand light years wide. We're thirty thousand light years from galactic central point. We go 'round every two hundred million years. And our galaxy is only one of millions of billions in this amazing and expanding universe..." -Monty Python. 9:36 More people really need to play Kerbal Space Program. At the relative velocities we're talking about, the most interesting thing that could happen if your throw was super precise or super lucky throwing directly at the Earth's center and you managed to stay out for an entire orbit is that you will hit yourself in the back of the head with the tool.

[@Andre-qo5ek]

re: Sun's Place in the Galaxy can we have an episode that addressing galactic season earth and out solar system has experienced? do we have that data?

[@unvergebeneid]

I feel this "can my triceps deorbit a wrench" question is one of those that come with amazing regularity. People need to play KSP more!

[@Raz.C]

Technically, if you throw something from orbit, it WILL reach the earth, because atmospheric drag will eventually cause it to fall from orbit. Without a means of correcting its orbit, this is a guaranteed eventuality. However, we can't truthfully claim that it reaches earth because of the throw. You could place a tool just outside of the ISS and it would reach the surface of the earth just as surely. The bottom line is - Anything in low earth orbit will eventually come crashing to earth, unless it has some way of increasing its orbital speed, thereby raising its orbit.

[@agentdarkboote]

GAIA was "only" able to see about 2 billion stars in the milky way, but we estimate that there may be as many as 400 billion - is there any way that we can increase the number we can see with future missions? Are there any plans to do this?

[@edunger1313]

Question - since Earth's electro-magnetic field deflects solar/cosmic radiation from the planet, is it feasible for a spacecraft to generate its own field to protect astronauts and equipment from harm?

[@jamesjellis]

A permanent/semi-permanently occupied moon base I think is better than maintaining a low earth space station. You can still get your zero-g experiments done in a orbiting lunar station. Pretty easy to go back and forth from the surface.

[@davemi00]

Going to an astronomy club and trying out different Focal Length Scopes, is the only way to see the different advantages of Focal lengths and designs. Take notes to remember your experience. Have fun

[@TheNordicCat]

Hey Fraser, do you think photon sieves will replace lenses and mirrors in future telescopes, or are they just a niche technology for cubesats? And have you ever looked through a photon sieve telescope?

[@danwylie-sears1134]

Of course the wrench will fall. It was falling before you threw it, and it's still falling after you throw it -- just not with exactly the same velocity that you're falling. That last bit is crucial, because you're attached to a spacecraft that will be re-boosted after atmospheric drag slows it down a bit, and now the wrench is no longer attached. So yes, it will definitely fall back to Earth. Or at least back to an altitude where there's enough atmosphere for it to burn up in.

[@MelindaGreen]

Small black holes will definitely kill you, but large enough black holes should be quite roomy inside. The universe as a whole has just enough size and mass to be a black hole, so we may already be inside one!

[@timoteoqueiroz1627]

And the universe is expanding, meaning the black hole we're inside is growing outside! Or... It could be that its becoming thinner, and is a way for a black hole this size to "disintegrate", resulting in a somewhat... COMPLETE UNIVERSE! Ahhh my mind is wandering now!

[@MelindaGreen]

@@timoteoqueiroz1627 Or the universe is expanding because of all the matter and space which is still falling into it.

[@filonin2]

@@timoteoqueiroz1627 There is no outside. The universe is not expanding into anything.

[@dipi71]

The ISS joining the fate of Spacelab and Mir is sad indeed, considering the enormous effort to plan, develop and build their components, put them up into orbit, assemble them there and maintain them.

[@ioresult]

Belsa: a frog looking at a blender! hahaha!

[@TomSnyder--theJaz]

Good show, Fraser. I have a question: Why are we still calling collapsed super-massive suns 'black holes' instead of 'black stars'?

[@ToTheGAMES]

Follow-up / question for Alaris question about the/our position in the Milky Way; Do we lose planets/stars/etc from the Milky Way? If so, how does that happen? No more pull at the tail ends maybe?

[@malcohm6993]

You took the easy questions.

[@frasercain]

I just take them as they come.

[@HitsuHits]

CGP Grey’s The mostest closest planet referenced :D

[@e-memers9441]

Finally we get Stargate gonna name

[@AntonBrazhnyk]

Granted we won't destroy our civilization in WW3, climate change, hostile AI or other ways it seems space economy should come earlier than in a hundred years. I asked Perplexity about some similar topics and it has found quite old paper that discussed possibility of space habitats building during Space Shuttle era and those projects were estimated at Apollo project scales. Apollo project was very expensive for sure, but possible. Considering all the technological advancements we have since then your expectations seem way too pessimistic (unless WW3 and so on...). After all the benefits are immense. The amount of materials out there in asteroid belt is huge and we don't need to pollute our own planet to get them. Building big habitats in space would be much better and potentially safer than Musk's "multiplanetary species" goal. I bet this could be a great topic for some interview(s).

[@scottymoondogjakubin4766]

My father always taught me earths weather is highly influenced by were are solar system is in the galaxy and the way the sun bobbs up n down !

[@WrongParadox]

earlier this year the kugelblitz blackhole option got shown to have issues and would be unable to form. (before August 2024) - from what I understand of what I read on the research, quantum effects kick in and negate the formation, and to get around that you would need more light than is possible in the universe, by a significant margin (orders of magnitude)

[@aatragon]

Chulak. I have always wondered: Where is the Solar System currently within its arm? Is it on a crest, in the middle, etc.? Does that mean that the distances between local systems are compressed or enlarged periodically? What happens when they are, and would we be able to know?

[@tommy-er6hh]

Void question: Um, Milky Way has about 50 satellite dwarf galaxies, not a couple dozen. Oh, and we have found Andromeda Galaxy has at least 36 known dwarf galaxies around it. And the nearest void is a little way just bordering our collection of dwarf galaxies. If we in Milky Way are in a city, it is on the edge of a galactic desert.

[@Quartermaster_77]

We all living in a yellow submarine !

[@Kevin_Patrick001]

Kind of but if you throw a wrench at earth straight down, eventually it will come straight back up like it hit a rubber band and will crash into the space station.

[@donsample1002]

In the case of the ISS it would be back in about 45 minutes. Something similar happens if you throw it sideways.

[@robwalker4548]

Clarification just to make sure I am right. We would be dead on a neutron star but deader in black hole! Got it.😂

[@RAZTubin]

The Internal Space Station should be turned into an Airbnb.

[@parthhappy]

I would go for Dakara this time :)

[@LoricSwift]

Honestly we can only comment on the Matter/Antimatter disparity within the observable universe. We don't know, and it is impossible to say what is beyond the edge of it.

[@matthewellisor5835]

P5C-768 gets my vote

[@phillipnorman7423]

good vid

[@smorrow]

Huygens is always depicted as moving radially into Titan

[@rohrertech8882]

I've always been curious, How does the light speed lag affect galaxies in the local group? The gravity "seen" by even local galaxies has to be at a slightly different angle and position than the current actual position of our own galaxy. Where are the local group galaxies "now, in real time", vs where do they appear to us due to the light speed lag? I understand that "now" is an illusion over long distances and times, but i'm curious what, if any, effect this has on galactic level celestial mechanics.

[@georgion2]

One more question, suppose we have the technology to be able to travel to nearby stars. How would we go about navigating to them?