[TEXAN*]

[Bouncing Zabaglione Bros.]

And of course all these pictures are 2D, whereas volumes go up in cubes, so the scale is even bigger than is obvious.

Couldn't you make a link? It's not very friendly to in-line a 1.2 meg picture at 1280 × 8149.

[suryad]

This was utterly brilliant!

[homerdog]

Mind boggling.

[hoom]

(I actually saw this comparison about a month ago elsewhere)

What surprised me is the truly vast scale of VY Canis Majoris compared to our sun

I knew our star is relatively little but not by quite such a big extent.

[hughJ]

Originally Posted by hoom

(I actually saw this comparison about a month ago elsewhere)

What surprised me is the truly vast scale of VY Canis Majoris compared to our sun

I knew our star is relatively little but not by quite such a big extent.

To be fair the volume is very deceiving of its actual mass. In volume it's millions of times bigger. In mass, it's 10's of times bigger. When our Sun grows to be a red giant, while not being nearly as large, it will probably require me to get better sun block.

[Simon F]

Are you trying to implement the "Total Perspective Vortex" of HHGTTG?

[Brad Grenz]

I've seen the thing about the hubble looking at a speck of empty sky and finding 10,000 galaxies before. That's my favorite part. So awesome to think about...

[Davros]

Imagine what it could see, if it looked at a speck of full sky

[Scott_Arm]

Awesome! Which galaxies are the aliens in? In which galaxy did Star Wars happen?

[Simon F]

A2: "Far far away"

[AlStrong]

I knew I was insignificant.

[suryad]

Originally Posted by AlStrong

I knew I was insignificant.

I think we all knew that already :P

But seriously in that vein of thought...whenever I find myself getting bogged down with day to day bothers and this and that...I think it sort of helps to realize and visualize that picture and see that what is bothering us is actually just nothing in the grand scheme of things and so I might as well just get over it.

Which leads me to think all this political crap and terrorism and religion....the stuff we basically see every day on the news...its just...well...insignificant. Kind of does make me a bit indifferent. I wonder if everybody became indifferent then would we have the current 'problems' of the world...ah well I am gonna shut up now...

[Snyder]

Last week when visiting the Ars Electronica Festival in Linz, i couldn't help myself going in one of the regular presentations they have at the AEC.
They did a similar presentation, "Power of 10"-style, in 4k resolution real-time interactive stereoscopic 3D on two 16x9m screens - now THAT was mindboggling! I just sat there with a stupid grin on my face...

Too bad the presentator was a complete idiot regarding astronomy, talking about stars circling planets and the radiosphere consisting of sound waves(!)...

Oh, the software was from those guys:
http://www.scalingtheuniverse.com/index.php

[Grall]

Originally Posted by suryad

I think we all knew that already :P

There's literally millions of people (counting very low here) who are utterly convinced we're the center of everything - or at least everything important - and also the crowning achievement of the creation of this entire universe.

How people come to be so self-centered and deluded I don't know. But it's frighteningly common nevertheless.

Perhaps this method of thinking is because human beings so rarely look UP. Think of it... How often do YOU look up?

Our anatomy does not easily let us look up; our neck is designed to allow our head to swivel quite easily, but pivoting is much more restricted. Our field of view is wider than it is tall; natural for living on a planetary surface, but does not allow for a 'broadening of our horizons' in the vertical direction.

So we tend to focus on what is around us. Kind of what Carl Sagan spoke about when describing "Flatland"...

[Dr Evil]

Originally Posted by Grall

There's literally millions of people (counting very low here) who are utterly convinced we're the center of everything - or at least everything important - and also the crowning achievement of the creation of this entire universe.

How people come to be so self-centered and deluded I don't know. But it's frighteningly common nevertheless.

But we are! Now we have to build Enterprise-1701J's (J's should be fast enough) and travel to all those Galaxies and let everyone know, that the divine truth was revealed to US a few thousand years ago on OUR planet. Let's leave the apple biting thing out or else some advanced civilization might also blame us for the sins of our father.

I just wish we would know more.

[suryad]

Originally Posted by Grall

There's literally millions of people (counting very low here) who are utterly convinced we're the center of everything - or at least everything important - and also the crowning achievement of the creation of this entire universe.

How people come to be so self-centered and deluded I don't know. But it's frighteningly common nevertheless.

Perhaps this method of thinking is because human beings so rarely look UP. Think of it... How often do YOU look up?

Our anatomy does not easily let us look up; our neck is designed to allow our head to swivel quite easily, but pivoting is much more restricted. Our field of view is wider than it is tall; natural for living on a planetary surface, but does not allow for a 'broadening of our horizons' in the vertical direction.

So we tend to focus on what is around us. Kind of what Carl Sagan spoke about when describing "Flatland"...

Whoa very interesting post. Quite an eye opener. I think it is a mix of a lot of things that cause people to become self centered and stuck in their ways. I think certain wiring in the neural pathways, certain hormones, certain biological factors are the key to why some people can step away from it all and look at things from a different perspective and think logically and realize how being self centered is absolutely useless. It is also nurture as in the way they were brought up, social and religious beliefs...they of course influence one's thought processes but I think its all down to the genes...that is the ultimate foundation in my opinion that allows a person to say you know what screw social/religious norms I dont think that is correct because of x and x reasons. It I think kind of ties in neatly with the evolution of the neck region and pivoting up and down. By the way at night when I drive home and I have my sun roof open on a pleasant evening, I do like to once in a while look up at the sky through the sunroof. Very relaxing. Of course not enough to the point where my driving suffers at all but quick glances. Very peaceful.

[_xxx_]

Originally Posted by AlStrong

I knew I was insignificant.

Bah. We're definitely more significant than some faint dots in the sky, trust me.

[Dr Evil]

Originally Posted by _xxx_

Bah. We're definitely more significant than some faint dots in the sky, trust me.

So you think you are more significant than a galaxy, oh wait that was in plural so galaxies?
Are you by any chance a huge black hole?

[_xxx_]

Originally Posted by Dr Evil

So you think you are more significant than a galaxy, oh wait that was in plural so galaxies?
Are you by any chance a huge black hole?

I, from my own perspective, am the most important thing in this universe.

Which does NOT mean that I devalue the rest or don't care about anything. Such an extreme black and white thinking would be rather crazy.

But saying that anything out there makes you feel insignificant is devaluing yourself, and that's just as crazy IMO.

Originally Posted by Joshua Luna

As awesome as our universe is I do believe the most amazing miracles are the one seen every day yet overlooked.

That too. Or to put it in a proper perspective, we all have a little universe of our own, which doesn't exclude the existance or importance of the rest out there.

[Simon F]

Originally Posted by _xxx_

I, from my own perspective, am the most important thing in this universe.

Surely, you, from your own perspective, would result in a division by zero error. You have to use near clipping which will remove quite a considerable chunk of your body.

[Grall]

Originally Posted by _xxx_

Bah. We're definitely more significant than some faint dots in the sky, trust me.

More significant in OUR eyes, sure.

Then again, we're way more significant in our own eyes compared to everything else on this planet as well, including little forgettable things like wildlife, nature, yes indeed our entire biosphere which sustains us and makes our existance possible; stuff which we're rapidly in the process of either overexploiting, polluting, eradicating, squandering or all of the above.

If you don't find our human shortsightedness (to the point of self-elimination is my wager) depressing then there's no hope for you.

[suryad]

Originally Posted by Grall

More significant in OUR eyes, sure.

Then again, we're way more significant in our own eyes compared to everything else on this planet as well, including little forgettable things like wildlife, nature, yes indeed our entire biosphere which sustains us and makes our existance possible; stuff which we're rapidly in the process of either overexploiting, polluting, eradicating, squandering or all of the above.

If you don't find our human shortsightedness (to the point of self-elimination is my wager) depressing then there's no hope for you.

I do. But I cant stay depressed for too long. Thats when I go for a blast in my gas guzzling 09 M3 or my noise polluting emissions go to hell MV Agusta. And it kinda cheers me up. I know I am a bad person...

[_xxx_]

Originally Posted by Grall

More significant in OUR eyes, sure.

Does anything else really count for you?

[Grall]

Originally Posted by _xxx_

Does anything else really count for you?

Yeah, actually it does.

I'd gladly see every human being eradicated from this planet if it would mean we wouldn't cause the extinction of any more species of life, or further destroying and polluting the environment.

We're just one species amongst hundreds of thousands, if not millions, on this planet. We're not THAT important seen from such a perspective. Only our own ridiculous pride, conceit and self-centered viewpoint wants us to think otherwise.