Galaxies

For several years now, increasing data are pointing to the universe very possibly being infinite in size and inventory. Space that never ends, containing limitless galaxies, stars planets and energy. This would be a huge change from our longstanding model of a finite, but unbounded cosmos, meaning there's no physical boundary anywhere and yet the universe contains a specific amount of material and energy.

The only two disks in our sky, the moon and sun, both appear the same size. This is true nowhere else. It alone creates total solar eclipses. In just a few tens of millions of years, the slowly spiraling-away moon will look too small to cover up the sun. Total solar eclipses are only happening now, when humans are around.

For the next month, Mars hovers at its closest to us, which it briefly does only every two years. Its closest approach happens the first day of December. But since Mars doesn’t change much from night to night, there’s no need to wait. You can go out the next clear evening. Mars is that super bright star low in the east at 7 p.m., with even brighter Jupiter far to its right. If you have a telescope also check out Saturn, the lowest star in the west.

Everyone knows the terms waxing and waning, and usually know a waxing Moon gets fatter each night while a waning Moon gets thinner. But relatively few of your friends could look at a moon and instantly tell whether it’s a waxing or a waning one. So let's make it easy. The waxing moon is lit up on the right. It's the moon you see during the weeks before full moon. It's also the moon that's already out when darkness falls, so it's the one seen by the most people. The dinnertime moon.

Lunar eclipses appear best through binoculars or just the naked eye. The full moon is never a good telescope target, and hosting Earth’s blurry-edged shadow doesn't help much. It's not terrible, like macaroni salad, but Earth's shadow edge is fuzzy, and fuzzy is not a good thing through a telescope.

We and Andromeda are approaching each other. With the separation decreasing by 70 miles each second, we'll collide in a few billion years. But no problem. We'll pass through each other without harm, and ultimately merge into an enormous new galaxy that's already been named: Milkomeda.

Everyone knows that Quantum mechanics can be non-logical. Yet it works when it comes to describing the behavior of atoms and all the other small stuff that makes up our universe. It has also been used to create new technologies such as the transistor. But to believe it means believing things about reality that very few of us would find acceptable. Even Albert Einstein, who helped establish quantum theory more than a century ago, came to question its principles for most of his life. This week we'll explore two basic principles of common sense that quantum theory throws away.

On this week's episode Bob Berman discusses a new theory that is infinite in size and space.