My childhood days were spent fantasizing about “how it would be if I could ........... Play in a chocolate fountain, visit the moon, watch those living abroad, and talk to people living at the other end of the earth. The wants were many and the means too distant then. It was just a dream – a fantasy, too good to be true.
Neil Armstrong, Yuri Gagarin and Rakesh Sharma were super heroes who were demi gods who had achieved the inconceivable. They stared at us from our G.K. (General knowledge) books and News papers, away from normal human reach.
Today as middle age confronts me, the fantasies and dreams bundled in the deep recesses of my mind, have translated themselves to reality in an objective form. I get to see chocolate fountains now. Trips to the moon – a vacation package. Computers have pervaded our homes and souls and webcams bring people closer and the world shrinks.
With so many happenings, I can now walk and talk to the end of this earth. I shake my head in wonder.
Is there any area that is beyond human power of achievement? My mind doesn’t agree. Yet, is there any dearth of new wants? No, not at all. Once achieved our insatiable desire spreads its vicious tentacles to reach out to new areas of wants.
And so here I am, coming up with yet another crazy wish of mine which I know will be fulfilled during my life. It’s only a matter of time. Human brain is smart enough to spring a solution under the guise of Science and Technology.
We live on planet earth. It forms a part of our Solar system which is called the “Milky way”.
When I look up at the star studded sky late in the evenings, seated on my couch in the open Terrace of my house, my mind goes to a tizzy. Every single Star above me has a separate Solar system, a new universe. This knowledge leaves me gaping at the sky. It is said that Aliens do exist. Why not, I feel.
If there was another earth somewhere in that vast expanse of star studded sky then there would definitely be life existing in some form. These extra terrestrial beings have been fantasised on big screen. Surely they could be a definite possibility.
Now my mind grows wings and tries exploring these ideas. Could we not befriend these aliens and co-exist together? May be it could be mutually beneficial to both of us. How interesting! Delving into their lifestyles and studying their habits and culture.
To go a step further, we could arrange exchange programmes for the children, exchange scientific ideas and try to ape them. We could learn the art of flying in those space ships similar to learning cycling and driving car. We would get licence to do so. The rich could plan weddings in the other planet. Employment opportunities could be available in plenty there. We could find out the source of entertainment of those aliens and try to implement them on earth.
If they were intellectually behind human race, we could be the Masters of their Universe and if otherwise we could learn a thing or two from them.
Oh! I could go on and on about my whims and fantasies. I also imagine us swapping planets to get rid of our everyday – enemy – the invincible Mosquito.
As the saying goes, all good things come to an end. I am just left to dream of it hoping beyond hope to see it happen in my life time.
Now, coming back to earth (Pun), I would like to share a few facts about our galaxy, with all to show them from where my imaginative flight took off.
S.SEKAR
Contact: sekrajc@yahoo.com
Our Solar System's Location in the Milky Way Galaxy
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Our solar system is located in the outer reaches of the Milky Way Galaxy, which is a spiral galaxy. The Milky Way Galaxy contains roughly 200 billion stars. Most of these stars are not visible from Earth. Almost everything that we can see in the sky belongs to the Milky Way Galaxy.
The sun is about 26,000 light-years from the center of theMilky Way Galaxy, which is about 80,000 to 120,000 light-years across (and less than 7,000 light-years thick). We are located on on one of its spiral arms, out towards the edge. It takes the sun (and our solar system) roughly 200-250 million years to orbit once around the Milky Way. In this orbit, we (and the rest of the Solar System) are travelling at a velocity of about 155 miles/sec (250 km/sec).
To reach the center of the Milky Way Galaxy starting from the Earth, aim toward the constellation Sagittarius. If you were in a spacecraft, during the trip you would pass the stars in Sagittarius one by one (and many other stars!).
Since we're inside the Milky Way Galaxy and we've never sent a spacecraft outside our Galaxy, we have no photographs of the Milky Way Galaxy. Radio telescope data does, however, let us know a lot about it.
The arms of the Milky Way are named for the constellations that are seen in those directions. The major arms of the Milky Way galaxy are the Perseus Arm, Sagittarius Arm, Centaurus Arm, and Cygnus Arm; our Solar System is in a minor arm called the Orion Spur. The central hub (or central bulge) contains old stars and at least one black hole; younger stars are in the arms, along with dust and gas that form new stars.
The great rift is a series of dark, obscuring dust clouds in the Milky Way. These clouds stretch from the constellation Sagittarius to the constellation Cygnus.
The Milky way Galaxy is just one galaxy in a group of galaxies called the Local Group. Within the Local Group, the Milky Way Galaxy is moving about 300 km/sec (towards the constellation Virgo). The Milky Way Galaxy is moving in concert with the other galaxies in the Local Group (the Local Group is defined as those nearby galaxies that are moving in concert with each other, independent of the "Hubble flow" expansion).
Harlow Shapley (November 2, 1885- October 20, 1972), an American astronomer, was the first person to estimate the size of the Milky Way Galaxy, as well as our position in the galaxy (about 1918).
S.SEKAR, Chennai, India.
Contact: sekrajc@yahoo.com
