Space

#216 What is antimatter?

     I learned this today. Antimatter is matter made up of antiparticles. An antiparticle and a particle have the same mass but opposite electrical charges.      A proton, for example, contains three quarks (2 up and 1 down), has a positive charge, and weighs 0.00000000000167262192 picograms. (A picogram is 100 billionth of a gram.)  An

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#214 What is a quark?

     I learned this today. Quarks are elementary particles that make up the fundamental constituents of matter.      Everything that has matter in the universe is made up of atoms. The screen you are reading this on is made of glass (probably), which is basically silica. Silica has one silicon atom with bonds to four

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#211 What is a dwarf galaxy?

I learned this today. A dwarf galaxy is a galaxy with 1000 to a few billion stars.      Our galaxy, the Milky Way, has between 200 and 400 billion stars. Dwarf galaxies tend to orbit larger galaxies. There are at least 14 satellite dwarf galaxies orbiting the Milky Way right now. They are the most

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#183 Could Mars be terraformed?

I learned this today. Mars could be terraformed, but it would require more money than any government would be able to spend. Terraforming is the process by which an uninhabitable planet is transformed into a habitable planet. This would require modifying the atmosphere, temperature, ecology, and adding water. Carl Sagan came up with the idea

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