Welcome to Thursday Coffee Hour. This is an open topic thread so help yourself to the goodies and sit a spell and let us know what is new with you. I have been a space buff all my life. It was a bond my Dad and I shared. We both loved trips to the Planetarium in San Francisco. We followed Apollo and the Moon landings religiously. I have followed all the Mars landings and check for each update from Curiosity on Mars. The July issue of National Geographic has an article of the violent making of our solar system.
I discovered science fiction at the age of eight years old and because of that space and what is out there became a lifetime passion. I'm 65 and may not ever get a chance to physically go into space but my mind is free to travel far and wide.
In the beginning our sun was drawing the gasses to itself and the rocks and dust were coming together to form planets and moons.
In the Beginning
Our Moon was pummeled by debris causing huge craters.
Our Moon
Our world could not escape all those meteors and rocks hurling through space.
Meteor Shower
Jupiter is so large and has such a strong gravitational field that it is a sitting target. On September 10, 2012 amateur astronomers caught a meteor hitting Jupiter. Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 hit Jupiter in 1994.
When Worlds Collide
While Venus may be beautiful to look at inside is an absolute hell.
Venus
The atmosphere of Venus is poisonous. It is so hot there that everything melts. The sky is exploding with lightning.
Venus Sky
Our sun is a thermonuclear furnace. While now “stable” in our future our sun will go nova on us and the inner planets, including Earth, will be destroyed.
Our Sun
As the sun expands all life as we know it here on Earth will be extinguished.
Nova
It is the stars that go supernova that will throw out the gasses and debris that will form the materials for a new galaxy.
Supernova
From the death of a star comes new life and rebirth as the universe goes on. As the late Carl Sagan often said, we are made of star stuff.
Rebirth