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Morning Start: Astronauts in space are exposed to the radiation equivalent of 150 to 6,000 chest x-rays

Your morning start for Friday, May 28, 2021
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(Pixabay photo)

Good morning and a very happy Friday! We’ve made it to the final weekend of May. With June around the corner, we’re nearly at the halfway mark of 2021.

Fun fact: Astronauts in space are exposed to the radiation equivalent of 150 to 6,000 chest x-rays

As noted by NASA, radiation is a type of energy that is emitted in the form of rays, electromagnetic waves and/or particles. Radiation can be seen as visible light or felt as infrared radiation. However, some forms of radiation, like x-rays and gamma rays, are not visible.

Space radiation differs from the type of radiation experienced on Earth because intergalactic radiation “is comprised of atoms in which electrons have been stripped away as the atom accelerated in interstellar space to speeds approaching the speed of light – eventually, only the nucleus of the atom remains.”

So how much space radiation are astronauts exposed to? They’re exposed to “ionizing radiation with effective doses in the range from 50 to 2,000 mSv. 1 mSv of ionizing radiation is equivalent to about three chest x-rays. So that’s like if you were to have 150 to 6,000 chest x-rays.”

With that being said, NASA says that not only does space radiation potentially put astronauts at greater risk of radiation sickness, but an “increased lifetime risk for cancer, central nervous system effects, and degenerative diseases.”

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In case you missed it:

A makeshift memorial has been erected at the site of the car crash that killed three Kelowna Secondary School (KSS) students on Wednesday (May 26).

A message board, bouquets of flowers, candles, KSS memorabilia and stuffed animals were just some of the items placed at the site to honour the victims. The identities of the Grade 12 students — an 18-year-old female driver, an 18-year old male passenger and a 17-year-old female passenger — will not be revealed.

View photos of the memorial here.

Trending on TikTok:

If you ask most comic-book enthusiasts — including the author of this Morning Start — if they were guilty of doing this when they were young, there’s a good chance they’ll all say yes.

@jeremylynch Wait for the end... 😂🕷🕸 @mateuspain #spiderman ♬ original sound - OrenSalman

That’s all for today. Everyone, have a great day!


@aaron_hemens
aaron.hemens@kelownacapnews.com

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