The scale of the universe

[Charliewool]

Interesting perspective on just how infinitesimal (tiny) we really are.

http://htwins.net/scale2/

[sneaky]

have seen it before. but still wow

[Madaya]

Not a hijack, but I thought I'd throw this one in to the pot...
Just in the news, a bolide (meteor) explodes over Russian skies...
Unbelievable stuff....check out the YT vid. Makes me feel very small.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=rflTN4XAt34

[SM1DY]

When you get down to 0.001m there is a dragonball

[40RDT]

Originally Posted by Charliewool

Interesting perspective on just how infinitesimal (tiny) we really are.

http://htwins.net/scale2/

Crazy stuff

[Moby Vic]

Douglas Adams said it best:

Space is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist's, but that's just peanuts to space.

[Rodp]

Seen the scale before - seen a number of different scales as well, dabble in a little amateur astronomy and I still believe that I can't quite contemplate the scale of the Universe.

In the Milky Way, it's estimated that there's 300 billion stars - and we're not in a particularly large galaxy. It's also been estimated that there's at least 100 billion galaxies. Due to advancements in planet detection, we've come to accept that planetary bodies orbiting stars is common.

It's also been theorised that this isn't the only Universe.

[uniacidz]

It's mind boggling



Sent from my HTC ARIA using Tapatalk II.IV.X

[ryeman]

Stephen Hawking now theorises that there are more universes than grains of sand on all the worlds beaches....

[casabonka]

pretty impressive!

[redxm]

Yep, we are so small we border on insignificent. Yet people carry on and on with trivial crap.

[gtfpv]

great link . here is another that i came across a couple of days ago it also gives you a scale impression with amind boggling end . scroll down the scale . it's equally impressive and a little easier to comprehend .

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/2012...w-big-is-space

[Cheese3]

Originally Posted by SM1DY

When you get down to 0.001m there is a dragonball

The zero star dragon ball ?

[Iggypoppin']

That's a human egg.

really cool scale, certainly shows us how insignificant we are. GTFPV your link is especially interesting because it outlines just how far Voyager 1 has traveled since 1977. Very cool stuff to read.

[Rodp]

Originally Posted by Iggypoppin'

really cool scale, certainly shows us how insignificant we are. GTFPV your link is especially interesting because it outlines just how far Voyager 1 has traveled since 1977.

..and still providing data and new discoveries.

[Iggypoppin']

Currently on the edge of the solar system and gathering information about the heliopause, won't be long until it's out of our solar system completely.

[SM1DY]

Originally Posted by Cheese3

The zero star dragon ball ?

Yep, they must have poor quality control at the DragonBall factory

[Spudz27]

That was no meteorite, Goku was just returning to finish of fajita, either that or Jor El was finally sending his son Khalil to protect the earth.

On the universe issue, whilst I have never seen an alien, given the size of the universe/verses I find it hard to believe we are the only life form out there. I often wonder if it is indeed us that are the alien species and in 50yrs we will be the ones invading another species planet, for some oil or gold lol.

[Madaya]

I know some may call me crazy, considering the size of the Universe, let alone the size of our galaxy (the Milky Way - what a nice name for a galaxy), but I believe this...
Life (as we know it), is probably widespread.
Intelligent Life (also as we know it), is rare.
We may be the only product of the Universe which is able to observe itself, and question, why are we here?
I hope this question is answered in my life time. But I call it 50 - 50.

[Cheese3]

Originally Posted by Madaya

I know some may call me crazy, considering the size of the Universe, let alone the size of our galaxy (the Milky Way - what a nice name for a galaxy), but I believe this...
Life (as we know it), is probably widespread.
Intelligent Life (also as we know it), is rare.
We may be the only product of the Universe which is able to observe itself, and question, why are we here?
I hope this question is answered in my life time. But I call it 50 - 50.

Personally I wouldn't class human as Intelligent Life , we are one step from beating each other up with sticks like rock apes . . .

[Iggypoppin']

The requirements for life would be very difficult to replicate on another planet orbiting another star. That perfect distance away from the sun that we are, among other things, means we have the ability to support life. As many planets as there are I'm sure, I doubt that there is another with that perfect balance that we have.

[2011G6E]

Originally Posted by Iggypoppin'

The requirements for life would be very difficult to replicate on another planet orbiting another star. That perfect distance away from the sun that we are, among other things, means we have the ability to support life. As many planets as there are I'm sure, I doubt that there is another with that perfect balance that we have.

It doesn't have to be that "perfect" either...certainly not as "perfect" as some people falsely lead us to believe...such as the current one doing the rounds of inboxes which says that if Earth was "just 15 feet further away from the sun, life would be impossible as it would freeze". This ignores the fact that Earths orbit is elliptical and the Earth, at different times of the year, is much further or closer to the sun than a piddling change of "15 feet"...in fact it the distance from nearest to the sun to further away is a difference of five million kilometers...152,098,232 km away at the furthest, and 147,098,290 km at the closest approach in Earths orbit each year.

The "Goldilocks Zone" actually extends from in near Venus to out near Mars...life is possible in a huge margin, and with some stars, it is even wider.

[Iggypoppin']

Those massive distances (5millionklm that you mentioned is the difference between the farthest and nearest orbit points of the earth) are microscopic in comparison to the rest of the universe, the idea that what we have is replicated elsewhere is seriously unlikely. The beauty of this whole argument is that we will never ever know.

[SM1DY]

Originally Posted by Iggypoppin'

Those massive distances (5millionklm that you mentioned is the difference between the farthest and nearest orbit points of the earth) are microscopic in comparison to the rest of the universe, the idea that what we have is replicated elsewhere is seriously unlikely. The beauty of this whole argument is that we will never ever know.

It would only need to be replicated if we were looking for another human-like species. At this stage it is expected that the only thing required for life is the presence of liquid water. The condition are only perfect for human life because we evolved and adapted to the conditions, as life on other planets would.

And what makes you think we'll never know, that's a very defeatist attitude.

[Psi-Pop]

Thats pretty impressive, now im going to spend a few hours on wiki looking up this stuff, and somehow ill end up on youtube at helicopter crashes. happens all the time.

[Rodp]

Originally Posted by Madaya

I know some may call me crazy, considering the size of the Universe, let alone the size of our galaxy (the Milky Way - what a nice name for a galaxy), but I believe this...
Life (as we know it), is probably widespread.
Intelligent Life (also as we know it), is rare.
We may be the only product of the Universe which is able to observe itself, and question, why are we here?
I hope this question is answered in my life time. But I call it 50 - 50.

I have a similar view, though I don't ever question why - there doesn't have to be a profound reason as to why life exists, it just does is good enough for me.

We had a unique set of circumstances that led to the existence of humans. In the 'goldilocks' zone. A tidally locked moon (theorised to have been caused by a massive impact early in the formation of Earth) that regulates the Earth's inclination to create distinct seasons. Abundance of liquid water. A rich atmosphere. Evolutionary luck.

It would be naive to believe we're the only life in an ever growing massive Universe. There's a decent chance we're not the only life in our own Solar System.

At the end of the day, we're all just stardust.

[Ducati888]

It depends on how you define life. There's no reason why life must be carbon based using a double helix DNA (or even single helix RNA). It's possible for life to exist in many incarnations, based on many different things, at levels of visibiltiy or planes that are undetectable to us. It needn't even be solid. It could be gaseous.

Arthur C Clarke's "Lost Worlds of 2001" touches on this, as does the later books of the Space Oddyssey series.

Issac Asimov also goes in to great detail about it in some of his works.

[Iggypoppin']

Originally Posted by SM1DY

It would only need to be replicated if we were looking for another human-like species. At this stage it is expected that the only thing required for life is the presence of liquid water. The condition are only perfect for human life because we evolved and adapted to the conditions, as life on other planets would.

And what makes you think we'll never know, that's a very defeatist attitude.

Explain how we will know?

[SM1DY]

Originally Posted by Iggypoppin'

Explain how we will know?

Ummm.....because we find them, or they find us.

[Madaya]

I think we can safely say, there are no 'Intelligent Species' within 40 light years of us.
Lets not get caught up with definitions of 'Intelligent'. Apes don't build radio telescopes. Dolphins do not build computers. Ants can't read printed word. I think we all know what we are talking about.
The Earth would stand out from the dark, very starkly by the our use of powerful radio transmissions. Most of these are in the form of radar, many megawatts of radar. For ocean and air traffic control, military uses, deep space radio astronomy and lately, watching out for errant asteroids. I can not think of any species of advanced aliens that could get by (remember, we are talking about life as we know it, iow, life we can communicate to), without something as simple, but as essential as radar, for managing the transport affairs of their planet. Please don't say smoke signals, to guide something like a jumbo jet to a safe landing.
With our present day equipment, we have carefully monitored all the stars out to a radius of about 200 ly (= hundreds) and no errant radio emmissions have been detected.
Silence lays over the deep.