There’s usually one fundamental instance that we can all go back to when it comes to astronomy. This is looking up at the seemingly endless stars and planets on a clear night away from city lights for the first time. For city dwellers, this can be a rare beauty to see. Most of us have no idea the vast panorama of lights that brighten up a clear night sky when you are away from the interference of city lights. Viewing outer space through binoculars or high-powered telescopes is certainly amazing. But I bet you’ll never forget looking up into the clear night sky for the very first time as a child. I’m sure as a child your were amazed by all the beautiful constellations, meteors and comets moving about, and the vast amount of stars in the sky.
The best way to experience that moment again would be to go out away from the city on a clear night sky with your kid when he or she is young. It will be great to see there eyes light up when viewing the clear night sky out in the country for the first time. The most phenomenal fact about the youngster taking a look into outer space would probably be his or her difficulty in grasping the sheer enormity of what exactly is above them and what it represents. The reality is that every bright dot in the sky is an individual star that is much larger than the earth. In fact, many stars are hundreds if not thousands of times larger than the earth. These facts can truly be mind bloggling to kids. Here are just a few of these incredible facts…
- The Milky Way is just one of tens of billions of galaxies. Each of these galaxies has billions of stars in them. Actually, the Milky Way is among the smaller galaxies.
- The Milky Way is fourteen billion years old.
- It would take you one hundred thousand years to drive across the Milky Way driving at five trillion, eight hundred million miles per year.
- Our sun is just one of the billions of stars in the Milky Way galaxy alone.
You will have exciting discussions in no time after mentioning these fun facts. They are likely to be about the origins of the universe and about the possibility of space travel or if we will ever find life on other planets. Such discussion may be enjoyable, thrilling, and result in many questions. However, do not limit their imaginations as this can be the birth of a lifelong appreciation of astronomy. All of this may possibly lead to you experiencing once again that exciting moment when you were a kid looking up into the clear night sky for the first time. At the very least it will be exciting to see the look on a kids face when he or she is gazing up at a clear night sky for the first time. This experience may possibly set off a whole new excitement about astronomy in you all over again.