Infrared nights

Have you ever asked yourself why the night sky is black? Well, what most of us may think is that, it happens because the sun’s light is not reaching our side of the world directly.

Sadly I have to tell you that’s not totally true. 

Our sky is blue during the day time because of the ozone in the atmosphere, but if we didn’t have it, we would see the space directly, like from the moon. Then, why is the universe dark?

If you look through a telescope the universe you will appreciate the light and starts from billions of years ago. You can even see the background light from the bigbang. Therefore, all the light from those “babies stars”, that now are 13 billion of years older should be seen by us every night including the bigbang background in the edge of the universe. Then, nights should be as brighter as sunlight.

Lately an astronomic research has showed that the universe expansion is not the only cause of this blackish night sky. The stars movements also make their light change into an infrared light, including the bigbang background radiation. This kind of light can’t be appreciated by human eyes.

What we can’t perceive by ourselves it’s really impressive, Did you know about this? Do you think that books should be changed? What else had been ignored by our none-complete sensorial system? 

(source: http://youtu.be/gxJ4M7tyLRE)

The Holy Grial of science: A new planet

Some would say that a new planet found would be great. Some would say a new planet in another system “similar” to ours would be amazing. But, although scientists consider it to be way close to Earth, it is at a distance of four light years.

It would take four thousand years with the current propulsion power to get there.

Alpha Centauri B, besides the new planet

Scientists are revolving in the fact that the planet, discovered by Observatory’s La Silla of Chile, is orbiting a star called Alpha Centauri B. It has been found that the planet is orbiting its own sun, and because of that, heat has been sensed there. Actually, the estimated temperature of the orb is of 1.200 degrees Celsius. Some people say it is too hot for some living organism to develop there. But, if you reader think about it, this very planet was too hot when compared to others in our solar system, so, it is not totally wrong to think there would be some developing organism.

The same happened in Earth thousands and millions of years ago, when organisms started to react whether in the water or under the effects of the sun’s heat on some organisms.

The media coverage has induced a whole scientific spirit, taking men to out of their best to achieve such a goal as a way of analyzing better the new planet is.

The Holy Grail of science is about to be discovered. Even though man could not travel there due to the distance, if it is proven that there is life or that there is the chance for it to be so, it would be a tremendous and astonishing breakthrough. But the question is: Would those organisms develop on time for scientists to see them? Might have they grown enough to contemplate humankind as inferior due to their “superiority”?

View media coverage here
http://lightyears.blogs.cnn.com/2012/10/17/closest-planet-found-outside-solar-system/

Article related here
http://www.space.com/18089-earth-size-alien-planet-alpha-centauri.html

Astrophobia, a not common phobia.

Have you ever been afraid of something that's not common? Have you ever been afraid of something that you feel you should not be afraid of?
You may have a phobia and you don't know it.  According to Oxford dictionary, a phobia is "an extreme or irrational fear of or a version to something". Some people feel fear of spiders (arachnophobia), others feel fear of situations in which scape is difficult (agoraphobia) and others feel fear of dogs (cynophobia).

In my life, I've heard about phobias that are pretty extrange, but this one really called my attention.
Astrophobia is the fear of stars, planets and space. It can be connected with to fears of dark, being alone or being away from home. People with astrophobia can have a persistent and overwhelming fear of the situation, dizziness, rapid heartbeat shaking, palpitations, difficulty thinking about anything than the fear, and persistent worrying about upcoming events that involve planets or stars.

There are lots of treatments for people with astrophobia such as behavior therapy, anti-anxiety medication, psychotherapy, cognitive-behavioral therapy, exposure therapy, relaxation techniques, and medication to treat anxiety.

I was pretty amazed when I realized that astrophobia actually exists. I met someone that suffers from this. I have a friend that feels so scared every time he sees images of planets or stars. First, he starts shaking, and then he can't control their actions. I talked to him some time ago about this. I asked him how does he feel when he sees a planet in a photograph. His answer was so simple: "I feel the same as you when you see a spider". He was right, I'm afraid of spiders and I can't control my feelings when I see one. My hands start to sweat and my heartbeats are faster.

What about you? Do you have a phobia that's not common?





Astrophobia