Space is big...

[sandbender]

"Space is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind- bogglingly big it is."

Douglas Adams

Since I was a child I've known that space is big, and I knew that some of the other planets were really quite large too. What I didn't realize was that there are stars out there that are so much larger than our own, this comparative slide show is worth a look...



http://pixdaus.com/single.php?id=8411

 

[C_Claycomb]

That is quite cool. Wish it was all on one picture though cause you kind of lose track once our sun is off the scale.

On a similar note, have you not heard of the Hubble Deep Field?

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5f/HubbleDeepField.800px.jpg

Representing a narrow "keyhole" view stretching to the visible horizon of the universe, the Hubble Deep Field image covers a speck of the sky only about the width of a dime 75 feet away. Though the field is a very small sample of the heavens, it is considered representative of the typical distribution of galaxies in space, because the universe, statistically, looks largely the same in all directions. Gazing into this small field, Hubble uncovered a bewildering assortment of at least 1,500 galaxies at various stages of evolution.

http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2004/07/


For me it rather takes the shine off the idea that we are in someway the centre of "Creation"

 

[lostagain]

and here's me thinking Birmingham was a long way away!

 

[sandbender]

That is quite cool. Wish it was all on one picture though cause you kind of lose track once our sun is off the scale

Like this

Yep the deep field thing is quite incredible, of course few people really see the night sky these days and have perhaps lost some of that sense of wonder...

 

[firecrest]

I always like to think to myself that the size of the universe makes us more significant and not less. If you think about people panning for gold, they will shift through hundreds of tons of earth and water to find a few specks, and its precisely its rarity among the common minerals in the earth that gives gold its value. So think of how valuable your Life must be if you have to sift through all that empty space to find something as tiny, complex and unique in it all as a living creature! Despite our size (so far as we know) We are the pinnacle of the universes creation. Infact some of the elements in our bodies had to be burned through three stars to be created, spun together into the earth and several more billion years for the surface of the earth to begin to move from chaos to order, simplicity to complexity via evolution. Every part of the earth is made from peices of dead stars, and we in turn are made up of nothing but the surface of the earth, and so there is no real seperation between living things and the planet they live on, or living things and the rest of universe, merely the complexity of the pattern our elements are arranged into. I like to think we are the universe observing itself consciously, which may be just poetic license, or maybe its the whole point of it all

 

[John Fenna]

I feel even more insignificant now......my shrink will be demanding higher fees in future thanks to this thread..........

 

[Tadpole]

I feel even more insignificant now......my shrink will be demanding higher fees in future thanks to this thread..........

None of this is real, you exist only in momentary flash of dream time, when the sleeper awakes you will vanish in the twinkling blinking time between sleep and breakfast.

 

[John Fenna]

Oh great! Thanks Tadpole! I feel realy self confid.....not much point finishing this post realy...just go and feel......













only joking - we are but a mote in a mad gods eye!

 

[ANDYRAF]

Sorry Sandbender, It's your turn in the total perspective vortex just to give you a reality check.

 

[EdS]

Space is dark it is so endless
When you're lost it's so relentless
It is so big, it is small
Why does man try to act so tall

Is this the reason
Deep in our minds

It does not feel it does not die
Space is neither truth nor lies
Into the void we have to travel
To find the clue which will unravel

Is this the reason
Deep in our minds

The secret lies with our tomorrow
In each of us is a hidden sorrow
The path goes onward through the night
Beyond the realms of ancient light

Is this the reason
Deep in our minds

 

[David.from.Holland]

Where I live the stars are seldom visible due to all the lit greenhouses. When I'm camping I can't resist getting up in the middle of a clear night at gaze up in awe. Makes you feel very small indeed. What if one of those big rocks decided it was time to set course for earth?

 

[Mesquite]

Nice poem EdS, who wrote it?

 

[lostplanet]

Fascinating..That's a great animation, still trying to get my head round the size of these stars....I used to love those Nasa computer animations where you would follow a satellite thouogh space and around different planets etc. I could sit there for hours floating about.

came across this after i was trying to get a idea if the earth was a 1 mm sphere how big would VY canis Majoris be?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VY_Canis_Majoris

Similarly, if a human could walk on the surface of Canis Majoris – assuming a speed of 5 km/h (3 mph) for 8 hours a day – the person would have to walk for 650,000 years to circle the star (compared with 2 years 11 months to complete the same task on the Earth, and 310 years 7 months on the Sun).

 

[lostplanet]

Wow... my brain is going to implode!!

look at the you tube video towards the bottom of the page>
http://www.universetoday.com/2008/04/06/what-is-the-biggest-star-in-the-universe/

 

[andy_e]

I love these sort of comparisons, in some ways I find our total insignificance in the grand scheme of things rather comforting, after all if it were all riding on our heads then the whole universe would be doooomed! Doooomed!

 

[lostplanet]

More Lobe melting..Takes you both ways
http://www.theuniversesolved.com/powersof10.asp?r=1&p=1

 

[Glen]

Nice poem EdS, who wrote it?

I believe that one to be by Dave Brock.

It's " Space is Deep " by Hawkwind

 

[sandbender]

Sorry Sandbender, It's your turn in the total perspective vortex just to give you a reality check.

Sorry can't respond to that I'm eating a piece of fairy cake

(Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy humor)

 

[andy_e]

More Lobe melting..Takes you both ways
http://www.theuniversesolved.com/powersof10.asp?r=1&p=1

Wibble!!!!

 

[EdS]

Nice poem EdS, who wrote it?

Dave Brock - its a Hawkwind song. Space is Deep