JOLLY DAYS

Podbit: The Universe

I've been listening to, what has turned out to be, one of the better podcasts — a series of lectures about astronomy. The podcast comes from Ohio State. The teacher, his name is Richard Pogge, has gone from the evolution of stars to the most recent podcast, which described characteristics of spiral galaxies. He speaks quickly, you miss a lot, and don't understand more, but overall, it is accessible and excitingly presented.

The subject is thrilling, awesome. And the podbit: Pogge said that the sun, which has a lifespan of about 12 billion years, will, before its death, have circled the center of the Milky Way 50 to 60 times. That is, one full revolution of the galaxy, carrying our little solar system with it, occurs every 200 million years.