Supergiant and Hypergiant Stars Compared to our Solar System:

The universe is filled with enormous planets that make the Earth seem like nothing more than a speck of sand on a mountain. We don"t even need to leave our solar system in order to find the behemoths that put our planet to shame. Take Jupiter, for example. This gas giant has 63 moons, some of which are larger than the other planets in the solar system (like the moon Ganymede, which is larger than the planet Mercury). Similarly, the Great Red Spot (Jupiter"s largest storm system) could swallow Earth twice over, while over 1,300 Earths could easily fit inside the planet itself.

To put it mildly, Jupiter is truly enormous. But of course, Jupiter isn"t the reigning king of the solar system. Obviously, that title goes to our star--you could fit 1.3 million Earths inside the Sun. That may sound impressive, but (unsurprisingly) there are many stars that dwarf our Sun. In fact, there are stars that dwarf nearly our entire solar system....like Blue Supergiants.

Want to learn about some of the largest stars in the universe? See:
http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/supergiant-and-hypergiant-stars-compared-to-our-solar-system/

Image via NASA

Tonight, Meteors will light up the winter sky:

If you"re in the Northern Hemisphere, you"re in luck! Tonight, turn your eyes towards the Big Dipper"s handle and look to the west of the bright star Arcturus. If the weather is favorable (and light pollution isn"t clouding the skies and obscuring your view), then you should be able to see some 80-200 meteors per an hour streaking through the sky. If you"ve never seen a meteor shower before, be sure to check it out this evening starting at midnight and carrying on until dawn. They are truly glorious events, and definitely worth a little lost shut-eye.

These meteors will blast into Earth"s atmosphere at about 90,000 miles per hour (144,800 km/h), but you"ve no need to fear any deadly cataclysms. The typical bright meteor is produced by a particle with a mass less than 1 gram...no larger than a pea. So even if the Quadrantids set the sky aglow, you"ve nothing to fear.

Want to learn more amazing facts about meteors and how to find them? See:
http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/tonight-meteors-will-light-up-the-winter-sky/

Image via
http://www.flickr.com/photos/73449134@N04/8343003942/in/photolist-dHf5py-dH9EGv-dH6aWh-97BHji-b7byEF-b7byVX

New Observation of a Coronal Mass Ejection:

Coronal mass ejections (CMEs) are quite possibly the most terrifying storms in the solar system (yes, even more horrifying than Jupiter"s Great Red Spot). Imagine an explosion that sends 100 billion kg (220 billion pounds) of superheated material storming towards you at speeds reaching 1000 km/second (2 million mph). That"s essentially what coronal mass ejections are. These events can release as much energy as one billion hydrogen bombs.

In short, these solar events are amazingly powerful and amazingly destructive. And we had an opportunity to witness one of these events recently, on December 16th and 17th.

See more images of this CME, as well as a video, at:
http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/new-observation-of-a-coronal-mass-ejection/

Via:
NASA

Astronomy Photo of the Day: The Multiwavelength Sun 1/3/2014

Unfortunately, humans can only see light from a very small part of the electromagnetic spectrum. Quite literally, there is a whole universe out there that we can"t see. Fortunately, we have technology to aid us.

This fantastic image of the Sun shows us how our star looks from the visible part of the spectrum to the extreme reaches of the ultraviolet wavelengths. Of course, the light received by our observatories had to be translated into a color that we could see, so this isn"t *actually* what ultraviolet light looks like; however, the image does give us a pretty good idea of how much of our the Sun we can"t see.

Want to know how much of the universe we are missing? See:
http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/astronomy-photo-of-the-day-the-multiwavelength-sun-132014/

Image:
NASA

A Step Forward in the Genetic Treatment of Down"s Syndrome:

Ordinarily, during the reproduction process, the egg cell and the sperm cell start out with 46 chromosomes. The egg and sperm each undergo cell division (a process through which the 46 chromosomes are divided in half), and the egg and the sperm cells each end up with 23 chromosomes. Consequently, when a sperm with 23 chromosomes fertilizes an egg with 23 chromosomes, the baby ends up with a complete set of 46 chromosomes (half coming from the father"s sperm and half from the mother"s egg).

From time to time, an error may occur when the chromosomes are being divided in half, and an egg or sperm cell keeps both copies of the #21 chromosome instead of just one copy. As a result, if this egg or sperm is fertilized, the baby ends up with three copies of the #21 chromosome. This is called "trisomy 21" or Down syndrome. The features of Down syndrome result from having an extra copy of chromosome 21 in every cell in the body. Ninety-five percent of Down syndrome results from trisomy 21.

People with this condition have an increased susceptibility to infection, while children with Down"s Syndrome have a 10 to 20 fold increased risk of developing leukemia, and 10 to 15% of babies with Down syndrome have a severe heart defect that requires surgical intervention during the first few months of life. Fortunately, in recent times, we have made great advancements in the fight against this condition.

Learn about these breakthroughs at:
http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/a-step-forward-in-the-genetic-treatment-of-downs-syndrome/

Image:
X.Compagnion

Astronomy Picture of the Day: 01/01/14 - The Magellanic Stream

No, that"s not a bleach stain on the Milky Way. This object is called the Magellanic Stream. It was discovered in 1965 in the southern hemisphere of the Milky Way, covering at least 180 degrees of sky (it"s about 600,000 light-years in length). The mysterious structure is located about 180,000 light-years from the Milky Way. The gas moves at excessive speeds, and in a direction that doesn"t match patterns found within the Milky Way. As a result, it has been the source of much astronomical scrutiny.

However, the long search for the object that spawned this beast is over. This structure was found to originate from the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, two satellite galaxies of the Milky Way. Through this new data, originating from Hubble"s Cosmic Origins Spectrograph, scientists were able to determine that the material was likely freed from the gravitational bondage of the two satellite galaxies some 2-billion years ago, when the two galaxies interacted with each other. Most of the material is thought to originate from the Small Magellanic Cloud because it"s smaller and would have felt a stronger pull from the bullying Large Magellanic Cloud.

Another mystery solved. Yay.

Sources and further reading: http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/astronomy-picture-of-the-day-010114-the-magellanic-stream/

Image Credit: D. Nidever et al., NRAO/AUI/NSF, A. Mellinger, LAB Survey, Parkes, Westerbork, and Arecibo Obs.

Evidence suggests life on Earth could have started on Mars:

There is a theory that"s gaining a bit of traction in the scientific community, a theory which suggests that life on Earth could have come from Mars. Evidence in favor of this theory has been building over the last couple of decades, which and it indicates that we all (could be) Martians.

The theory basically asserts that, some 4-billion years ago, life started on Mars. Then a meteor then struck the planet, sending little chunks of Martian rocks (containing Martian life) into interplanetary space. One or more of these rocks then fell to Earth, seeding life on the planet and BOOM, here you are.

Learn all about this theory, and the evidence that supports it, at:
http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/evidence-suggests-life-on-earth-could-have-started-on-mars/

Image:
NASA

How to Help Science: BOINC and Team FQTQ

Did you know you can help cure diseases, study global warming, discover pulsars, search for extraterrestrials, run particle acceleration simulations, and help construct a 3-D map of the Milky Way without ever leaving your home?

Meet BOINC (Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing), an open source middleware system for volunteer and grid computing. The intent of BOINC is to make it possible for researchers in science, math, molecular biology, climatology, and astrophysics to tap into the enormous processing power of personal computers around the world.

Learn more about this amazing crowd-computing effort (and how to get the software) here: http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/how-to-help-science-boinc-and-team-fqtq/

Public Perception of Evolution: A Reflection of Scientific Literacy in Society

Unfortunately, humans seem to thrive on controversy. Though people may come from diverse economic, social, and cultural backgrounds, there is one thing that we all love: Arguing. In fact, we’ll even argue about things that experts are decidedly *not* arguing about.

Case in point, the Pew Research Center recently conducted a survey (between March 21 and April 8, 2013) among a national sample of 1,983 adults. This survey dealt with individual views regarding evolution. The survey was conducted by professionally trained interviewing staff under the direction of Princeton Survey Research Associates International. According to the analysis, six-in-ten Americans (60%) say that “humans and other living things have evolved over time.” That’s a bit comforting; however, not all of the findings are inspiring.

Discover what the numbers say at:
http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/common-views-on-evolution/

Image:
NASA

Understanding Evolution: What is Natural Selection?

“When it was introduced in the 1940s, penicillin was a miracle drug, especially effective at curing infections caused by the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus ("staph"). In 1941, the drug could wipe out every strain of staph in the world. Now, seventy years later, more than 95% of staph strains are resistant to penicillin.” — Dr. Jerry Coyne, "Why Evolution is True"

-----------------------

In "Why Evolution is True", Dr. Coyne used this example in the chapter entitled, “The Engine of Evolution.” The engine he’s referring to is none other than natural selection, and this little insight regarding the adaptability (evolution) of Staphylococcus aureus is excellent evidence for the theory of evolution by natural selection. It’s my go-to “proof,” if you will, when someone asks me to provide proof of evolution because (a) it’s simple and easy to understand, (b) it definitively shows that an organism can adapt to a new environment (in this case, a human body injected with penicillin), (c) it doesn’t require any discourse regarding fossils or the fossil record (which is probably the best evidence for evolution, but it’s very difficult to explain fossil evidence to someone who wants to “see” evolution if you don’t have fossils on hand!), and (d) bacteria are excellent for ‘showing’ evolution in action because they reproduce quickly, meaning that they can potentially evolve much faster than, say, a dog or a dolphin.

Learn all about natural selection at:
http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/understanding-evolution-what-is-natural-selection/

Image:
NASA

Your Particle Physics Guide: Part 2

The Standard Model is the theory that describes the interaction of forces affecting subparticles, like electrons and quarks. Although this physics deals with the major forces that govern our universe, it often seems disconnected from us--like it belongs to another reality. In truth, it does deal with matters outside out everyday experience; however, that does not make it any less important. Ultimately, understanding the Standard Model is a necessary part of understanding our universe; it is the best thing that we have at our disposal when trying to make experimental predictions.

So let"s take a moment to get to know the Standard Model, and the universe, a little better.
http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/your-particle-physics-guide/

Image:
2011 Keiko Murano

Introduction to the Anti-matter Mystery:

Apart from dark matter, dark energy, black holes, and the missing-baryons of the universe, one of the most captivating mysteries in modern day physics centers on antimatter. Particularly, it focuses on the metaphorical fight between regular matter and antimatter, which were both created in equal proportions during the inception of the universe about 14 billion years ago.

It"s as much of a philosophical question as it is a question of general physics. If antimatter had won out, none of our physical universe (including us) would exist, since both would have annihilated each other in bursts of pure radiation, leaving behind energy and a bright but featureless universe. So, to what exactly do we owe the extended presence of normal matter?

Find out at:
http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/introduction-to-the-anti-matter-mystery/

Image via CERN

What is the "Oh My God" Particle?

One of the most entertaining names that I"ve come across in the physics sector is the "Oh My God Particle." Scientists also refer to this particle as the "ermahgerd particle" (kidding, kidding. It"s not really called that, but it is called the "Oh My God Particle"). Now, the first thing that my pop into some of your minds is the Higgs Boson, which was discovered in 2013. This isn"t too surprising as the media went around calling it the "God Particle." However, these two particles are very different.

So what is the Oh My God Particle? Well it is a simple, lowly proton. Why the name? Because the Oh My God Particle is the fastest ever found.

Learn about it, and find how fast it was traveling, at:
http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/what-is-the-oh-my-god-particle/

Image via NSF

Top 10 Science Discoveries of 2013

It"s been a big year for science. Below is a (very incomplete) list scientific discoveries that hit the news in 2013. These are the top stories in the eyes of From Quarks to Quasars. Undoubtedly though, there are many other worthy discoveries that should also be on this list. We welcome you to comment what you think the top discoveries should be. Perhaps your comments will act as a supplemental list for readers. With that in mind, be sure to include links to your favorites.

See FQtQ"s list at:
http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/top-10-science-discoveries-of-2013/

Compiled by "EvolutionEvidence.org:" https://www.facebook.com/EvolutionEvidence.org

10 Amazing Facts About Life, Planets, Stars, and the Universe:

As we all know, the human race lives on a small blue dot, orbiting a yellow-orange star, in a galaxy that we call the Milky Way. This galaxy is some 100,000 light years across, and our closest neighbor (Andromeda) is about 2.5 million light-years away. And while we have been all over the surface of the Earth, we have never visited our sun, have yet to trek across the vast distances of our galaxy, and we still have quite a ways to go before we make it to Andromeda. In fact, we haven"t even finished exploring our own small planet. Ultimately, there is a lot that we don"t know about the cosmos, but what we do know is pretty awesome.

Check out 10 amazing facts at:
http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/10-amazing-facts-about-life-planets-stars-and-the-universe/

Image via NASA

5 Horrifying Organisms you Don"t Want to Meet:

Earth is an amazing place. It is home to a number of different species that have adapted to a plethora of habitats. There are mammals that live in the ocean and breathe through holes in their head; there are a variety of worms that spend their lives underground living as parasites on plants (some even live in other creatures" hearts); there are insects that fly through the air and suck blood, lay eggs in other living organism, or spread terrible diseases. And of course, this is just the start of the list. Ultimately, there are a number of species that we haven"t even discovered yet.

But let"s take a look at some of the more horrifying organisms that we have discovered.

Here are 5 of the Earth"s more amazing (and terrifying) organisms:
http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/5-horrifying-organisms-you-dont-want-to-meet/

Image: Assassin bug using ant corpses as armor

Via http://www.flickr.com/photos/pipoujid/3233134946/in/photostream/

The Benefits of Colonizing Space: Space Habitats and The O"Neill Cylinder

Many argue that the world is in a state of crisis and that the human race is the cause. As a species, we are approaching an important turning point in our history, and if we make the wrong decisions we might be facing a future of deprivation, over population, hunger, and instability. Ultimately, many believe that we will eventually be forced to colonize space. Last year, the 100 Starship Symposium set on course a project to design and build an economical and practical spacecraft for interstellar travel.

But with the very immediate worries about over population, it might not be a good idea to wait for interstellar travel and the colonization of other worlds. Fortunately, there are also many suggestions in place for large space structures designed as places for people to live in their millions, much like a city is on Earth. Of course, building a space habitat comes with thousands of challenges, including: construction in space, recreating a livable atmosphere, recycling waste, producing artificial gravity, transporting food and materials to the habitat, and convincing people such a venture is worth it.

Learn about the benefits of space colonization, and what these habitats may look like, at:
http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/space-habitats-and-the-oneill-cylinder/

Image:
NASA Ames Research Center space colony

How are stars born? How do they die?

You’ve probably been told that staring directly at the Sun is bad for your eyes. However, we don’t have to have uncomfortable staring contests with the Stars to try and get them to give up their secrets! After years and years of research, scientists have managed to find out quite a bit about the oh-so-secretive stars without losing a staring contest.

Firstly, stars go through the same process that we do in the sense that they are born, live, and then die. The difference is that they do it far more dramatically, and take a much longer time doing it. Depending on the mass of the star, the lifetime can range from a few million years to trillions of years! So let"s take a moment to get to know a little something about the lives of some of the oldest inhabitants of the universe: STARS.

Learn about the lives of stars at:
http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/how-are-stars-born-how-do-they-die/

Image:
NASA