5 Facts About Outer Space That Hardly Anyone Knows
What are five odd or generally unknown facts about outer space? originally appeared on Quora: the knowledge sharing network where compelling questions are answered by people with unique insights.
Answer by Leo Abrahamian, on Quora:
I think I can blow your mind on this one …
1.The universe is flat according to Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity. The way the universe works according to General Relativity is that the space-time is flat, and is distorted when matter appears, weighing it down and causing a sort of valley, which accounts for the force of gravity and gravitational fields. The cosmic background radiation is also evenly distributed in a way so that no area has more radiation than another area, stating that the universe is homogenous and flat with no bulges.
2.The loneliest place in space is the Eridanus Supervoid. Spanning a billion light years across, the Eridanus supervoid is very empty of ordinary matter. Dark matter likely is very abundant here, which would prove as an explanation. Seriously, look it up. The void itself looks frightening.
3.Everything in the universe will return to its position it is in today in 10^10^10^10^2.08 years, according to the Poincare-Recurrence time. Remember that the universe, if finite, is still that … finite. There is a limited amount of space matter can move to, and limited shapes, sizes, and different elements that can be put together to form an object. So technically, you just read this fact an infinite amount of times (assuming the universe is finite).
4.Black holes will live longer than the universe. Again, playing on the whole theory of a finite universe with an end, Black holes live for about 10^67 years. That’s 10 with 67 zeros after it. According to the heat death, big freeze, and big rip scenarios which are currently the most accepted end-of-the-universe situations, the universe will end in about 25-200 billion years. The stars will die out, and the only things roaming the universe when all matter is distorted and the last star in the universe dies will be massive black holes that will roam aimlessly in a cosmic hell.
5. Every galaxy in the observable universe is headed for the Great Attractor, minus the ones being pulled away from the attractor due to the expansion of the universe. In a very long time, the local group will merge with a galaxy supercluster in the vicinity of the Shapley supercluster. We are being pulled towards it at a speed of 14 million mph.
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