We all know that there is more than one galaxy, and in those galaxies there are stars just like our main star; the sun. Well there is one star that I have recently been hearing about called the V838 that is 20,000 light years away. To make you realize how far that truly is, if you traveled at the speed of light, you could travel that distance in 20,000 years. Only if you do not take any pee breaks.

Back to that point. this star blew up in January of 2002 and at that moment became the most luminous star in its galaxy. Scientists have made many different predictions as to why this had happened; it could have swallowed a plant in its orbit, or maybe it was actually two stars orbiting one another and their atmospheres colliding causing an explosion.

I know I have probably lost your attention by now, but just give it a second. I found this to be extremely interesting;

“Nothing lasts forever, but in the universe, nothing is ever really gone, either. As the Columbia University astrophysicist Caleb Scharf pointed out in an essay on his blog recently, long after you and I are dead, the light reflected off our faces today will still be traveling across space, ever fainter with distance, but always there. For somebody with a big enough telescope somewhere, we will be immortal” (NY Times). (There is a live link on this page).

So the light that will eventually reach our faces, and the light we see each day from our sun will reflect off of us and travel maybe 20,000 light years. I wish I didn’t have that huge pimple the other day. I would hate to have that person look into that telescope on one of those days!

Sources:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/03/science/space/the-v838-monocerotis-star-still-has-astronomers-heads-exploding.html?ref=science&_r=1