Arlo and Janis by Jimmy Johnson for April 14, 2024

As a child of the universe, I feel misunderstood sometimes.

To understand the Universe – what an undertaking. I still struggle with understanding myself and my existence right here and now.

What if our expanding Universe bumps into another expanding Universe?

I have not misunderstood the universe. I have never imagined I understood it at all.

Meanwhile, we still have people who don’t know they’re not supposed to look directly at the sun at any time, let alone an eclipse.

W-h-a-t d-o y-o-u g-e-t i-f y-o-u m-u-l-t-i-p-l-y s-i-x b-y n-i-n-e ?

“I always thought something was fundamentally wrong with the universe.”

It still seems like less of a problem to me than all the ones we now have with the Blue Marble Hotel.

Priority spending anyone?

It would seem that the Hubble Constant isn’t.

Huh?

NASA’s proposed budget for next year shows a proposed $1 billion cut. It may have to shut down the Chandra X-Ray telescope, one of the 4 great space telescopes launched in the ’90s and which have revolutionized our understanding of the universe.

I agree, Arlo: Mea culpa . .

Did we get our ten billion dollars worth yet?

So we may never reach other solar systems. They keep moving away.

Ok, now that I know the universe is expanding at 74 kilometers per second per megaparsec, what am I supposed to do with that?

I thought the expansion was from something I ate…

Kind of hard to accept much of anything as settled science, isn’t it?

Our Universe could be like a bubble bath, just another bubble in who knows what.

Monty Python’s Expanding Universe Song……Do a google search of that for the Galaxy song and enjoy.

That’s what they want you to believe. It’s really 73 kilometers. Did you really think they would tell you the truth?

Science is never settled. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

Trust The Doctor entropy increases.

If you really want to relate, try reading about quantum mechanics.

“If there’s nothing wrong with me, there must be something wrong with the universe.” Beverly Crusher, Star Trek: The Next Generation

She was right.

It is a Universal truth that I need to take my expanding garbage to the dump today…

Did Jimmy just want to show off his space telescope satellite drawings?

boyhowdy, I’ll say you have!

Meh. It just means that when they build their Space Drive, they’ll have to make sure it can go faster than 74, instead of 68… ☄️

If I were to start to make a list of the things that I don’t understand about the universe, that list too would expand at a rate that is proportional to its length. (Great art work on the space telescopes today, BTW!)

The most exciting words in Science, “That’s weird?”

@JJ Good one today!

How can something that has no boundaries expand?

HaHaHa I’m with you, Arlo.

I cannot believe I am reading about the Hubble Tension – The Crisis in Cosmology in a comic. I love it but I just can’t believe it. Oh, and BTW Dr. Wendy Freedman presented a paper a couple of weeks ago at the American Physical Society meeting claiming she and her group using data from JWST have solved this problem.

Expanding into what?

If you are interested in bringing space a little closer, try a Seestar S50 smart telescope. It allows deep space imaging from your back yard (or front) for a relatively low cost in actual money and invested time. Five minutes from setup and I had a very passible image of the Orion Nebula. It’s something I only imagined when I took my first astronomy course 40 years ago.

now my head hurts…. lol

As can we all…..

Just pray that there’s intelligent life somewhere up in space ‘cause there’s bugerall down here on Earth.

“There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened.”

Douglas Adams.

R.I.P. Trina Robbins.

Best thing about science? …it’s self-correcting. When better data presents itself we’re not averse to changing our views.

Expanding into the void. They never explain why there is a void.

Sorry, but 74 kilometers per second per megaparsec is not a speed (i.e., velocity). This quantity has the dimensions of an inverse time.

Astronomy is a continually evolving science. That’s what makes it a science and not a religion.

We are not anywhere near to understanding the universe.

There’s much else that doesn’t make a lot of sense or that we know something about but we know we don’t know much about it!

this just proves that the universe is a woman … i will never understand them but would not want to live anywhere else

Our cartoonist really has such a depth and breadth of knowledge and a boundless amount of curiosity. I am impressed.

Congrats to Jimmy Johnson on absolutely nailing the science. Btw, there are almost exactly the same number of light years in a parsec as there are feet in a meter.