National Geographic's: Journey to the Edge of the Universe

Last night premiered the National Geographic Special: Journey to the Edge of the Universe. In case you mised it, it will be next airing Sunday December 14th at 11 am. Be sure to record or watch it because it is worth your while.

What you are looking (above) at is a picture of a black hole swallowing a star. I must say it was a fascinating show with mindblowing visuals and head scratching content. It's very hard to imagine such things are out there. Our galaxy is massive and to think there are billions of galaxies out there sort of makes your head hurt.

My favorite line from the show was, "Scientists in the 70's sent a message to a cluster of stars called the 'Seven Sisters' with a road-map of how to find our solar system. The message also contained explanations for out human DNA hear on Earth. But the 'Seven Sisters' are so far from Earth, it will take 25,000 years for the message to reach them." Well done NASA.

This is the best job ever. Sending messages to planets that will be received 25,000 years from now. Can never fail really. No measurement of success or failure.

Here are some fun facts about our solar system you can use to impress your friends:

• Venus, the goddess of love, is the solar system's brightest planet.
• Although similar in size and gravity as Earth, Venus' atmosphere is full of deadly sulphuric acid.
• Covered with a thin veneer of rock, Mercury is a huge ball or iron and has a powerful gravitational pull for its size.
• The strongest magnet known in the universe is a magnetar, a rare type of neutron star. To date, there have only been about ten discoveries of a magnetar.
• The sun is so far away that if it burned out we wouldn't know about it for eight minutes.
• The red planet, Mars, has no ozone layer and has nothing to protect against the sun's ultra-violet rays. This makes it unlivable for humans.
• By dating the meteorites found on Earth, we can tell the planets were born 4.6 billion years ago.
• Jupiter is spinning at an incredible rate, whipping up winds to hundreds of miles an hour.
• Saturn is a giant ball of gas; so light it would float on water.

Be sure to check out the show. You will thank me.