The universe is majestic. It's also quite terrifying. Think about it: At the end of the day, does any of this even matter? We just so happen to be the "lucky ones" to exist on a floating rock that revolves around a fiery orb situated in a vast ocean of stillness and nothingness. Wild, huh? Just wait until we tell you how deadly asteroids can be...
People told us all about the things that creep them out about space when Redditor ULQUI_ asked the online community,
"Dear space enthusiasts of Reddit, what is the most interesting yet absolutely terrifying fact about space you know?"
"The potential..."
"The potential for complete and immediate annihilation by vacuum decay."
Don't read it...
Don't read it...
Damn it. Why did I do that?
"There could be..."
"There could be a planet-sterilizing gamma-ray burst heading our way right now. There's no way to stop it, and we wouldn't even know it's coming until it arrives."
"As a person with claustrophobia..."
"I'm old enough to remember the Apollo missions and wanted very badly to be an astronaut when I was growing up. I've met a couple, am distantly related to one, and was actually a couple of feet away from Buzz Aldrin once.
As a person with claustrophobia, the fact that the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo astronauts spent so much time in such cramped quarters is at once fascinating and terrifying to me.
I can be perfectly okay in something like a car, or an elevator, or some other confined space...so long as I can easily get out. The idea of being in a capsule the size of a VW for a few days with nothing outside but certain death?
Nope. Nope. Nope. Gemini 7?
If you'll excuse me, I'm going to have some nightmares now."
Trapped and there's no escape? Sounds like nightmare fuel to me. I'll take my chances here, on Earth.
"The universe outside of Earth..."
"The universe outside of Earth is completely silent. Sound on Earth travels through vibrations in the air. But in outer space, there is no air for sound to travel. Basically saying, nobody will hear you scream."
"That in the space between..."
"That, in the space between the stars and planets, there is just the endless void.
It's the most "nothing" that there ever will be yet at the same time we can traverse this sea of infinity."
"Even the most ambitious..."
"The more we learn about the universe, the more hostile, unforgiving, and unsuitable for life it appears to be. The sheer scale of everything is the most terrifying and fascinating to me. Someone else said it's "too big for us." That's true. Even the most ambitious science fiction, with faster than light travel, warp speed, whatever, still doesn't predict civilization to span galaxies -- the intergalactic medium is too vast. When you look up at the sky on a clear night, some of those points of light you see aren't stars, they're galaxies or clusters of galaxies, each with billions upon billions of stars in them, most of which probably shepherd planetary systems and any of which may harbor intelligent life. But we'll never know, no matter how long humanity exists, we'll never know."
"There is a full stop to humanity..."
"There is a full stop to humanity. We will cease to exist, every single atom that is and has been earth will ultimately be destroyed, by our own sun.
Won't be for billions of years, but unless humans can successfully colonise other planets our entire existence will be inevitably wiped."
Have you seen how we treat our own planet? It might be in the best interest of the universe at large if we do stop.
"It won't be humans..."
"It won't be humans that colonize space but it will be our creation. We will have to give birth to a species that colonize space. Unfortunately, humans are not meant for space travel. If we wanted though we could reintroduce humanity at the destinations."
"It's possible..."
"It's possible that the entire universe could have started collapsing from the center and we would not know about it (at least from Earth) for about 13.8 billion years."
Imagine that. You're just chilling... watching RuPaul's Drag Race. And then, all of a sudden... darkness. You go to your death never knowing who won the Snatch Game.
"If you were to fall deep enough..."
"If you were to fall deep enough into the gravitational well of a black hole and still be able to observe what's happening, you would see all of time unfold in front of you before you crossed the event horizon. However, the tidal gravity of a black hole is so great that you would have been reduced to a stream of particles long before this."
Okay... it's safe to say that I won't be sleeping tonight. But I can't help but be super fascinated (despite the terror), so if you'll excuse me, I'll be busy reading creepy space facts on Wikipedia until about 4 a.m. I never learn.
Have some space facts you'd like to horrify us with? Feel free to tell us about them in the comments below!
Want to "know" more? Never miss another big, odd, funny, or heartbreaking moment again. Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.
@GovPressOffice/X
