Astronomer Answers Cosmos Questions - Tech Support - WIRED
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Date: 2026-01-23
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Comments and reviews: 20
FujiSkunk
I was confused about sunspots for a long time, because as a kid I was told, Sunspots look black, but they aren't! Okay, then why do they look black Somehow that follow-up question never got answered. And then I figured something out: Ever held up a light source in front of a much stronger light source, like say, a weak flashlight in front of a modern car's LED headlights Even though both objects are emitting light, and both look bright when looked at by themselves, together the weaker light source actually looks darker than the other. And so it is with sunspots. They're still emitting light just like the rest of the sun, and by themselves they would look bright. But when surrounded by the much hotter and therefore brighter parts of the sun, they appear dark.
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I was confused about sunspots for a long time, because as a kid I was told, Sunspots look black, but they aren't! Okay, then why do they look black Somehow that follow-up question never got answered. And then I figured something out: Ever held up a light source in front of a much stronger light source, like say, a weak flashlight in front of a modern car's LED headlights Even though both objects are emitting light, and both look bright when looked at by themselves, together the weaker light source actually looks darker than the other. And so it is with sunspots. They're still emitting light just like the rest of the sun, and by themselves they would look bright. But when surrounded by the much hotter and therefore brighter parts of the sun, they appear dark.
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ImagineGTAVI
We will Never Forget 9/11. Our friends, loved ones, fellow Americans, and people visiting here will not have died in vain, nor will our military service members, all of their rights were all of our rights. Always Remember 9/11.
He (ObL, disguised as Kash Patel, was in the USA, used radio control, chickened out of killing himself (U93, became a bounty, I found him, and I rose to the occasion of being needed by my countrymen. I called in police because I don't want him getting away, and I also had to kill him and it goes to show you that if you go for the outdoors, the outdoors comes for you. I haven't been paid or credited, yet!
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We will Never Forget 9/11. Our friends, loved ones, fellow Americans, and people visiting here will not have died in vain, nor will our military service members, all of their rights were all of our rights. Always Remember 9/11.
He (ObL, disguised as Kash Patel, was in the USA, used radio control, chickened out of killing himself (U93, became a bounty, I found him, and I rose to the occasion of being needed by my countrymen. I called in police because I don't want him getting away, and I also had to kill him and it goes to show you that if you go for the outdoors, the outdoors comes for you. I haven't been paid or credited, yet!
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evairywon
16: 35 i wonder why all the planets form this plane around the sun One of the things that always kind of wigged me out about space is that directions like up, down, left & right seem to be really subjective out there, like if it's infinite in all directions then up at some point kinda becomes down. So how come all the planets in our solar system are able to maintain an orbit that's flat Is there maybe a right-side up when we're in space Same q applies to the degree that planets rotate; why is it that all the planets (sans Uranus) have a relatively similar degree of rotation
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16: 35 i wonder why all the planets form this plane around the sun One of the things that always kind of wigged me out about space is that directions like up, down, left & right seem to be really subjective out there, like if it's infinite in all directions then up at some point kinda becomes down. So how come all the planets in our solar system are able to maintain an orbit that's flat Is there maybe a right-side up when we're in space Same q applies to the degree that planets rotate; why is it that all the planets (sans Uranus) have a relatively similar degree of rotation
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cameirusisu1024
What is dark energy and dark matter:
1. Dark matter - a polite term for the universe is different to our models, but we dont know why, and we dont want to say so, so we made up a term for it. we have no proof of it, we have lots of perfectly valid theories that dont require it, but people dont like contradicting Einstein, so we go with '80% of the universe is invisible mkay' instead.
2. Dark energy - either god or magic, take your pick, but its the physicists version of it, though it makes even less sense than the other 2.
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What is dark energy and dark matter:
1. Dark matter - a polite term for the universe is different to our models, but we dont know why, and we dont want to say so, so we made up a term for it. we have no proof of it, we have lots of perfectly valid theories that dont require it, but people dont like contradicting Einstein, so we go with '80% of the universe is invisible mkay' instead.
2. Dark energy - either god or magic, take your pick, but its the physicists version of it, though it makes even less sense than the other 2.
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Dlear0013
Its infinite. No seriously, look real quick. if it has a bottom, it has a top. We live in a 3 dimensional plane of existence. If it has one side, it has the OPPOSITE side! We live in infinite. U still reading neat. so u want outward or inward Maybe that big ol bubble they're showing isn't the only bubble. Maybe our big bang wasn't the only big bang. Maybe, just maybe, our ability to think of things that dont exist and create something out of nothing is 4th dimension and that's actually what we are.
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Its infinite. No seriously, look real quick. if it has a bottom, it has a top. We live in a 3 dimensional plane of existence. If it has one side, it has the OPPOSITE side! We live in infinite. U still reading neat. so u want outward or inward Maybe that big ol bubble they're showing isn't the only bubble. Maybe our big bang wasn't the only big bang. Maybe, just maybe, our ability to think of things that dont exist and create something out of nothing is 4th dimension and that's actually what we are.
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will9001asd
What if our universe is just inside another exponentially larger universe
And the expanding of the universe by dark energy is the larger universe pulling on ours. Like a person pulling a rubber band. It's accelerating by intention to reach the breaking point quicker.
Until it snaps and we just have leftover residue afterwards and we coined that the big bang event
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What if our universe is just inside another exponentially larger universe
And the expanding of the universe by dark energy is the larger universe pulling on ours. Like a person pulling a rubber band. It's accelerating by intention to reach the breaking point quicker.
Until it snaps and we just have leftover residue afterwards and we coined that the big bang event
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hammads9045
Doesn't the big crunch imply there's a centre to the universe Actually, her analogy of there being no centre doesn't make sense since we are at one layer of the big bang, and there are other layers beyond us (where the universe's background microwaves are)so I'm trying to say there's a centre, and we can spread outward
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Doesn't the big crunch imply there's a centre to the universe Actually, her analogy of there being no centre doesn't make sense since we are at one layer of the big bang, and there are other layers beyond us (where the universe's background microwaves are)so I'm trying to say there's a centre, and we can spread outward
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derekdjay
You don't say the Universe is 14 billion years old. You don't get to spoil my meme about past, figuratively distant events of one's life that says i was there Gandalf, 13 point 9 billion years ago where those things seem so distant or foreign to one, that one would think they were in another life.
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You don't say the Universe is 14 billion years old. You don't get to spoil my meme about past, figuratively distant events of one's life that says i was there Gandalf, 13 point 9 billion years ago where those things seem so distant or foreign to one, that one would think they were in another life.
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seekthetruth5440
So. I’ve read recently, very recently. That the expansion is actually slowing. Still expanding, however not faster but beginning to slow. This came about by a recalculation of the measures of distance which was found to be flawed. That it is believed now that dark energy is weakening
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So. I’ve read recently, very recently. That the expansion is actually slowing. Still expanding, however not faster but beginning to slow. This came about by a recalculation of the measures of distance which was found to be flawed. That it is believed now that dark energy is weakening
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TeketelAdane
Is the universe designed by a grand designer or a random collection that was started by the Big Bang If it is random, how we could able to agree in all these scientific knowledge by developing all these theories and even how could we believe what you are telling us is correct not random
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Is the universe designed by a grand designer or a random collection that was started by the Big Bang If it is random, how we could able to agree in all these scientific knowledge by developing all these theories and even how could we believe what you are telling us is correct not random
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mscott54321
Pluto now all like:
I'm on a plane
I can't complain
I'm on a plane
I love myself better than you
I know it's wrong so what should I do
I got so high I scratched 'till I bled
I love myself better than you
I know it's wrong so what should I do
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Pluto now all like:
I'm on a plane
I can't complain
I'm on a plane
I love myself better than you
I know it's wrong so what should I do
I got so high I scratched 'till I bled
I love myself better than you
I know it's wrong so what should I do
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joeman408
If the universe were truly infinite, wouldn't it be guaranteed that there are exact copies of all of us out there somewhere I've always thought the universe was finite so hearing now that scientists may think it's infinite is simultaneously exciting and terrifying.
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If the universe were truly infinite, wouldn't it be guaranteed that there are exact copies of all of us out there somewhere I've always thought the universe was finite so hearing now that scientists may think it's infinite is simultaneously exciting and terrifying.
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BruceCarroll
The film 2001: A Space Odyssey depicted the asteroid belt with two rather small asteroids. Kinda realistic, I guess.
And light pollution is a thing. Some cloudless nights I feel like I can only see four stars. (It's probably closer to dozens, but still)
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The film 2001: A Space Odyssey depicted the asteroid belt with two rather small asteroids. Kinda realistic, I guess.
And light pollution is a thing. Some cloudless nights I feel like I can only see four stars. (It's probably closer to dozens, but still)
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karagi101
I wish the religious nuts that claim god created the universe would understand that all our data point to an infinite universe which means it never had a first cause and therefore their argument that there needed to be a god for a first cause is wrong.
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I wish the religious nuts that claim god created the universe would understand that all our data point to an infinite universe which means it never had a first cause and therefore their argument that there needed to be a god for a first cause is wrong.
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cf_1204
We don’t live in an infinite universe bc if it was infinite then the Big Bang wouldn’t have happened. The universe would’ve just existed. Our universe has a beginning, if you want to label that as the Big Bang then it can’t be infinite.
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We don’t live in an infinite universe bc if it was infinite then the Big Bang wouldn’t have happened. The universe would’ve just existed. Our universe has a beginning, if you want to label that as the Big Bang then it can’t be infinite.
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BattlemasterAurust
As a caveat to what came first stars or galaxies. recent observations seem to indicate that black holes may have come first and formed in the quark gluon plasma before the microwave background became transparent.
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As a caveat to what came first stars or galaxies. recent observations seem to indicate that black holes may have come first and formed in the quark gluon plasma before the microwave background became transparent.
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burnout_2017
i believe in America its just fluffy whipped nougat with a layer of rich. creamy caramel, the European version lacks the caramel.
sorry, low hangin fruit like that thumbnail question is just to hard to pass up on.
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i believe in America its just fluffy whipped nougat with a layer of rich. creamy caramel, the European version lacks the caramel.
sorry, low hangin fruit like that thumbnail question is just to hard to pass up on.
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dirkkortegast6433
Knowing that our solar system, and any given galaxy, are roughly disc shaped why wouldn’t the universe be a big old disc, too, circling around some super cluster of mass Maybe atoms, too, are teeny tiny discs
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Knowing that our solar system, and any given galaxy, are roughly disc shaped why wouldn’t the universe be a big old disc, too, circling around some super cluster of mass Maybe atoms, too, are teeny tiny discs
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VanishingPoint.
If the universe is infinite. why isn't there a star at every point looked at The light keeps traveling until it hits something (Earth, or conversely. why can we see any stars if there's always a planet in the way
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If the universe is infinite. why isn't there a star at every point looked at The light keeps traveling until it hits something (Earth, or conversely. why can we see any stars if there's always a planet in the way
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michaelcapone175
I don't mean to be argumentative, but you are wrong about the center of a milky way. Everyone knows at the center of a milky way is a light, chocolate-flavored nougat base topped with a layer of creamy caramel.
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I don't mean to be argumentative, but you are wrong about the center of a milky way. Everyone knows at the center of a milky way is a light, chocolate-flavored nougat base topped with a layer of creamy caramel.
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