We even talk like we're from space
Whenever we use terms like 'light-year' or 'cosmic,' we're using language brought to us by astronomers.
This NASA Hubble Space Telescope image captures the tempestuous stellar nursery called the Carina Nebula, located 7,500 light-years away from Earth in the southern constellation Carina.
NASA/Handout/Reuters/File
Cultural references to astronomy abound in movies, books and particularly in the English language. Of course, I鈥檓 steeped in space and astronomy, so you鈥檇 expect ME to use terms like 鈥渓ight-year鈥� and 鈥�1/r2 鈥� and 鈥渃osmological鈥� and things like that. But, it鈥檚 everywhere. I bet even YOU have used some astronomy-generated term lately.
Just as we came from the ashes of old dead stars, sometimes the words we say also come from the stars. Take 鈥渓ight-year鈥� for example. It鈥檚 really a term that we use to talk about how far a beam of light travels in a year at a constant speed of 299, 792, 458 meters per second.
The total distance (if you do the math right) turns out to be 9,460,730,472,580 kilometers (or 5,878,630,000,000 miles). That鈥檚 how astronomers use the term, as in 鈥淭he Andromeda Galaxy lies some 2.5 million light-years away鈥� or 鈥淭he light from that nebula traveled some 1,500 light-years to get here.鈥�
In everyday language, you often hear the term used like this: 鈥� He was light-years ahead of his time.鈥� In this case, it seems like the speaker is using a unit of distance to refer to someone being advanced in some way. Not exactly a proper usage, but people get the idea.
IN PICTURES: NASA's journey into the universe
Another word is 鈥渃osmic鈥�, which scientists usually use in terms like 鈥渃osmic rays鈥�, which are those little high-speed particles moving through space (and matter, including us). The only way to detect them is by how they affect the matter they collide with.
So, if a stray cosmic ray hits some solution in a special detector, it causes a little flash of light, and we can detect that and the cosmic ray鈥檚 trail and say 鈥淎ha, a cosmic ray just pinged us!鈥� But, in general use, the term 鈥渃osmic鈥� is from an older Greek term kosmikos, which is related to how we refer to the whole universe, the vastness 鈥渙ut there鈥� stretching to the limits of the known universe.
And, nearly every day, you can hear someone say 鈥淲ow, cosmic!鈥� or 鈥淭hats really cosmic!鈥� Usually they鈥檙e expressing their awe and admiration of something in a very slangy way. Like, totally cosmic, dude.
鈥淪olar鈥� is another word you hear a lot, usually in terms of 鈥渟olar heating鈥� or 鈥渟olar power鈥�. It refers to the Sun, which is also known as Sol, and hence, heat from our star becomes 鈥渟olar heating鈥� and you can capture it with those panels and eventually you get electricity.
That鈥檚 a pretty obvious one. 鈥淟unar鈥�, which refers to our Moon, which is also known as Luna, gets corrupted to the term 鈥渓ooney鈥� 鈥� which can mean 鈥渃razy鈥� or 鈥渨hack鈥� or, if you鈥檙e in Canada, is a unit of currency. For the trifecta, I suppose you could use a looney to buy a ticket to a cartoon by 鈥淟ooney Tunes鈥� and perhaps the Moon will show up in one of the sequences.
One of my favorite (and incorrect) usages of astronomy terminology is one made famous in Star Wars IV (which was the first Star Wars movie, but is now the fourth one in the series). The line is 鈥溾�� it鈥檚 the ship that made the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs.鈥�
Science-literate folks immediately jumped on that one because parsec is a unit of distance in astronomy. It鈥檚 roughly 3.2 light-years long. It鈥檚 not a unit of speed.
But, apologists for the movie鈥檚 obvious mistake in the script have now pointed out that it really just Han Solo bragging that he鈥檇 found a short-cut to the planet Kessel 鈥� rather than taking the usual route of 18 parsecs, he found a shorter route. Okay鈥� I suppose that鈥檚 a reasonable way to explain an obvious script lapse. And, it did teach a new word to folks who hadn鈥檛 studied astronomy before.
Of course, we have many other usages in our languages 鈥� the terms 鈥渟tellar鈥� and 鈥渟tar鈥� point out the good qualities in a person or action, as in 鈥淪he鈥檚 the star of her own show鈥� (she鈥檚 the brightest or a luminary), and 鈥渉is stellar qualities were apparent to all (to describe the good, outstanding qualities of a person). How many of us have ever used the term 鈥渂lack hole鈥� to describe something, as in 鈥淭hat office is a black hole of information鈥� (meaning a place where no information can escape)?
From space science we get a whole galaxy (if you鈥檒l excuse the expression) of language idioms. One of my favorites is to say 鈥�Houston, we have a problem鈥� whenever I encounter an obstacle or a problem in everyday life. I鈥檝e also heard people (mostly on planes taxing down the runway) say 鈥淎nd, we have liftoff鈥� at wheels-up time.
You could probably spend days (or at least hours) thinking of other usages, which just goes to show you that space and astronomy are reflected in our language. And I think that鈥檚 just cosmic!
Carolyn Collins Petersen blogs at .
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