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top 200 commentsshow 500

[–]down_vote_magnet 671 points672 points ago

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It's kind of frustrating, but I know that my brain is not capable of actually putting into perspective just how fucking big that shit is.

And mind still blown.

[–]molrobocop 162 points163 points ago

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And unless we can conquer relativistic/super-luminal travel, or perhaps a variation of downloaded intelligence to machines sent out into the galaxy, we're stuck in this solar system. Kind of soul-crushing to a man who loves Space Opera scifi.

[–][deleted] 133 points134 points ago*

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There is another issue. Let's say we can actually travel to any point in the observable universe. A few days, weeks, or mere moments depending on how we accomplish that. We have overcome whatever obstacles there are to folding/warping/dropping through space and the energy required to do that... OK. So, you point your ship at VY Canis Majoris because you have always just really wanted to go there. Stellar activity has long-stripped the outer gaseous planets of all but their glittering solid core.. and you have never seen a diamond that big.

Problem is, when you get there, even instantly, you will find that the star had since moved. We will have to have very detailed maps and powerful computers to keep from really fucking ourselves if you need to know the mass and gravitational terrain of all the space between there and here. And where there is now, not where it was... your calculations will have to take into account that current observable positions for near objects have not moved as much as far objects. You cannot base travel on what you see. You have to be able to calculate from a point in time where you know where each object is currently, even at vastly different distances.

[–]knome 118 points119 points ago

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The spice must flow.

[–]remmiz 61 points62 points ago

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Traveling through hyperspace ain't like dusting crops, farm boy! Ever try navigating a jump? Well, it's no mean trick. Without precise calculations we could fly right through a star, or bounce too close to a black hole; that'd end your trip real quick, wouldn't it?

[–]mixamillion 16 points17 points ago

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Uh-oh, we're losing a deflector shield. Everybody get strapped in, we're ready to make the jump!

[–]richalex2010 7 points8 points ago

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This limitation was actually acknowledged in the Stargate series; the only reason they could reach Abydos was because it had moved little (relative to our solar system) since the Earth gate was buried. When the series starts, the planets they travel to are limited to the ones whose new coordinates have been calculated (adjusting for the stellar drift).

All this requires in reality is having a history of locations of the stars (relative to Earth) over a period of time to determine rate of travel, and projecting that forward to the present. Actually obtaining and calculating that information might be a challenge, but I doubt it's impossible (at least with future technology, if it isn't possible with today's).

[–][deleted] 7 points8 points ago

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Good point, until that technology exists let's send robotic probes on a two way trip. The ones that return can send back data from that point and we can start stellar cartography.

[–]mthardison 145 points146 points ago*

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Give it time my friend. Remember we went from gliding down a hill to reaching the moon in just 66 years. The jump will happen. **Watch this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oY59wZdCDo0 and tell me that didn't give you goosebumps

[–]CowOfSteel 73 points74 points ago

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I want to believe.

[–]porn_flakes 39 points40 points ago

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We'd have gotten a lot further if we'd taken all the money we've poured into killing other people over the years and put it into R&D.

And by "we" I mean the whole human race, not one particular nation or group.

Also, why are we not still on the moon? It's puzzling that we apparently went through all that effort to reach it, picked up a few rocks, went home and never returned.

[–]apophenic 29 points30 points ago

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We'd have gotten a lot further if we'd taken all the money we've poured into killing other people over the years and put it into R&D.

You don't think the reason we funded space travel research so heavily was so that we could kill people more effectively? America was more interested in getting ICBMs out of rocketry research than putting a dude on the moon.

Also, why are we not still on the moon?

There's nothing to do there. We touched it, mission accomplished. Unless we're going to mine it or colonize it, there's no need to go there right now.

[–]porn_flakes 2 points3 points ago

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Unless we're going to mine it or colonize it, there's no need to go there right now.

Shit, they could have just put a missile base up there and we could get colonization and killing in one stroke!

[–]CowOfSteel 15 points16 points ago

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For what it's worth, the solar system is pretty freaking large in and of itself. Assuming we can manage to survive Earth long enough to figure out self-supporting space habitats (a tall order, I know), we'll add some serious longevity to the human race. Hopefully that'd add long enough to work out something, be that relativistic travel or breaking currently accepted rules of physics in half.

[–]bigtimeriles 18 points19 points ago

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THOU SHALT NOT TRAVEL FASTER THAN THE SPEED OF LIGHT.

[–]Kreature 10 points11 points ago

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unless we change the speed of light

[–]Dexiro 24 points25 points ago

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I like to imagine that we'll find some way to fold space, make wormholes and such. Then travelling to distant stars might be somewhat feasible.

[–]tskazin 52 points53 points ago

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... or we can upload our consciousness into robot bodies and live forever as we venture out into space .. I guess at that point we wont be 'humans' anymore

[–]CowOfSteel 73 points74 points ago

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We'll have all eternity to debate what it means to be human!

Philosophy majors are going to become unbearable.

[–]Lampmonster1 64 points65 points ago

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They're not already? Hiyo!

[–]zingmars 5 points6 points ago

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But it'll be worth it... for science

[–][deleted] ago

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[deleted]

[–]apophenic 20 points21 points ago

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Nope, I look forward to never having to poop again.

[–]wildgratitude 23 points24 points ago

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Pooping is the shit.

[–]laboratory_koala 5 points6 points ago

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If you take into account how fast technology advances (and how the conservative nature of humanity will resist fundamental shifts in what it is to be human) then I'm sure we could identify the major reasons for enjoying our current form (warmth, comfort, eating, sex, etc.) and carry aspects of that over to our new designed form, before a major conversion to a new form occured.

[–]idontwearpantstowork 5 points6 points ago

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... Amazon Intergalactic Cloud Server crashes and loses everyones consciousness

[–]b1rd 3 points4 points ago

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You're not the boss of TigerBot Hesh!

[–]bigtimeriles 3 points4 points ago

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Could the human psyche sustain itself for a period of time adequate to travel any significant distance in space? I think that a consciousness transfer is the most feasible way to travel in space, or perhaps the discovery of an already existing wormhole network (there's no way we'll figure out how to make them anytime soon, and if we do, it seems to me it could possibly destroy the universe as we know it) but anywho I digress, I just wonder if a consciousness transfer and the effects on the psyche would create a being akin to the monolith (the black rectangle thing, ya know) from Kubrick's Space Odyssey 2001. Oh and this is the best thread I've seen on reddit in FOR FUCKING EVER.

[–]The_Moscow_Rules 296 points297 points ago

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"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."

— Douglas Adams (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy)

[–]the-crowing 123 points124 points ago*

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"Tell a man there are 300 billion stars in the [galaxy] and he'll believe you. Tell him a bench has wet paint on it and he'll have to touch it to be sure."

edit: 300 billion stars in the galaxy not universe. quote was wrong

[–]runswithcoyotes 14 points15 points ago

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Perhaps that's the wonderful thing about man. He knows his limits. If he had to touch all the stars to believe, his head would explode. Wet paint, on the other hand, is doable.

It works on a smaller scale too. When you take a step you don't consider every infinitesimal bit of movement in the process, rather you just take one step. The mind simply cannot handle infinite.

[–]aznzhou 15 points16 points ago

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Quick! Steal the fairy cake from the Total Perspective Vortex! Sentient life won't be able to take it!

[–]dux291 39 points40 points ago

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I think that the Galaxy Song by Monty Python accurately sums up the matter

[–][deleted] ago

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[deleted]

[–][deleted] ago

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[deleted]

[–]grammaticdrownedhog 5 points6 points ago

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MSFW: maybe safe for work.

[–]longbeans 19 points20 points ago

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Well, consider that the way we group things together as single entities is just a matter of mental representation. For instance, consider that we would mentally represent a pebble as a tiny, singular object but just as well, it could be represented as billions and billions of atoms, clustered together. Likewise, we can imagine an entity with a system of mental representations different from ours that observes the milky way as a singular object, our solar system a tiny atom within it, and earth and human-beings sub-atomic to our hypothetical entity.

Our brains just aren't wired to represent put these relatively massive systems in perspective in a way that makes sense to us, even though we logically know them to be huge, thus the feeling of mindfuck.

[–]Vitalstatistix 10 points11 points ago

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Don't feel too bad, I doubt even the greatest minds can conceive of just how massive that all is.

[–]hey_gang 9 points10 points ago

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It's incredibly frustrating! I kept sitting there referring back and forth between the different scales and I simply can't do it. I wonder if people on the Autism spectrum have more success with this sort of thing.

[–]evenheaded 362 points363 points ago

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There must be life over here!

[–]wszyskozajente 199 points200 points ago

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only dicks live there

[–]DanGleeballs 51 points52 points ago

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damn, unfortunate birthmark.. they must get a really hard time from the other superclusters

[–]EvilMcBadguy 6 points7 points ago

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Well, that's what it looks like from our perspective, but what about from their perspective? Or the perspective of an alien species from the other side of the universe?

[–]morningr 32 points33 points ago

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Quite a superclusterfuck.

[–][deleted] 19 points20 points ago

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If you can call Capricornicans "life". They are greasy thieving scumbags who need to stay in their own supercluster and stop taking our jobs.

Hoping there aren't any Capricornicans on reddit...

[–]luhjan 16 points17 points ago

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An intriguing find my dear boy, intriguing find that is.

[–][deleted] 8 points9 points ago

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Dear god, that is the biggest creeper I have ever seen

[–]RentalCanoe 69 points70 points ago

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The universe contains more stars than all the grains of sand in all the deserts and on all the beaches on Earth. The current estimate is 70 sextillion (70,000,000,000,000,000,000,000) stars.

Whoa.

[–]Chris_Gammell 8 points9 points ago

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All I can think is: Being a star explorer has to have like the best job security EVER.

[–]dberis 62 points63 points ago*

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Why do you have to bring sex into everything? Sheesh...

[–]manlydishwasher 5 points6 points ago

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70 sextillion is yet just a drop in the bucket, in the ocean, compared to what is out there.

[–]Sinkemlow 336 points337 points ago

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Always a mindfuck.

[–]dizzle18 292 points293 points ago

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The mindfuck is what comes after the observable universe

[–][deleted] 49 points50 points ago

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They showed you that at the end of Men In Black

[–]knylok 68 points69 points ago

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My God... after the observable universe, there's credits! It all makes sense now!

[–][deleted] 22 points23 points ago

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Yeah turns out the whole shebang was directed by some dude named 'Alan Smithee'

[–]frogzop 32 points33 points ago

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I was just having the this conversation with my wife yesterday. There are 3 things I (and probably humans) cannot fathom:

  • nothing (not just the space between things)

  • infinite

  • and the beginning of time (how could there be a before time?)

[–]LeCollectif 24 points25 points ago

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When I was a young child, I used to think about the notion of heaven and forever. It honestly scared me. There was nothing about it that I found appealing.

[–]KrazyA1pha 17 points18 points ago*

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Oh god, same here. I literally had nightmares from thinking about being in heaven forever.

I mean, just think about this idea of infinite existence is for a moment. A life time? Nope. A thousand years? Nope? A million years? Nope? A trillion years? Nope. Forever. There is no end. You would always be living in heaven. Always. In order to grasp it, you have to conceive of something without an end.

To my 8 year old mind, that was about the scariest thought in the world. And somehow, adults thought it would be enticing.

[–]mustacheofgod 30 points31 points ago

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I know, right? If the universe is expanding at an ever increasing rate just what the fuck is it expanding into if the universe itself composes the entirety of the universe?

[–]Yurumtin 74 points75 points ago

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Space-time is expanding, so the universe isn't expanding into anything, the very fabric of space is getting bigger. Or, the way I look at it: Space isn't getting bigger everything inside it is getting smaller. :-)

[–]huginn 33 points34 points ago*

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That last part just made me get a second cup of coffee. Mindfuck inceptioned into a Mindfuck

[–]tscharf 23 points24 points ago

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COFFEE!!! COFFEEE!!! MY COFFEE IS SHRINKING!!! GAHHH!!!

[–]mynoduesp 7 points8 points ago

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So should I get an extra large coffee if I want a large coffee or am I shrinking at the same ratio to my coffee?

[–]Urusai89 5 points6 points ago

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Think of an empty cardboard box. It has nothing inside it. Is that really nothing? Far from it. You have a volume of a gas inside that box which is a mixture of gasses from our atmosphere (oxygen, nitrogen, small amounts of other gasses).

Now take an air tight box into the vacuum of space above earth, let out all the air, and seal it. Bring it back down to earth so you can work with it. What is in that box? Is that truly nothing? We once thought so, but as it turns out, there's still something there.

Our entire universe as we know it expanded from a single point. Not just the energy and matter we see now as stars and galaxies, but the 'fabric' of space-time itself which we are always in. Within this fabric is everything we know, our entire universe, it's energy, even the laws of physics. Beyond that may literally be nothing, which is a mind boggling thing to think about.

Although with talk of extra dimensions and the "shape" of space, it may be impossible to actually see an end or edge of space no matter how far we travel, just like we would never find the edge of the Earth no matter how far we travel.

[–][deleted] 6 points7 points ago*

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It's not "expanding" into anything. That's the weird part.

Think of the universe as the surface of a balloon.

We're a bit like flatlanders living on the surface, watching the balloon fill with air and trying to describe just what the fuck is going on even though most of us can't even imagine a direction like up or down...

[–]Giygas 80 points81 points ago

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I was thinking of something witty to say here. For some reason, the only thing I could think of was tacos.

I really want some tacos right now.

[–]Gay4Digg 151 points152 points ago

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See, this is what happens when we open our borders.

[–]literallyfigurative 16 points17 points ago

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An Earthbound fetus-monster comes in?

[–]drgradus 19 points20 points ago

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GIR?

[–]swordgeek 2 points3 points ago

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I love the little tacos. I love them so much!

[–]CenterOfTheUniverse 8 points9 points ago

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I call it home sweet home.

[–]SJLD 44 points45 points ago

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Right in the center, of course!

[–]ethomp 38 points39 points ago

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I know you're trolling, but since it's the observable universe it would make sense that we are in the middle, since the area we can observe would extend out a certain radius from us.

[–]KaneHau 28 points29 points ago

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Not to feed the troll - but also to reply to you (disclaimer, I do work for one of the worlds largest optical/IR observatories)...

Think of the universe as an expanding sphere where everything we know as reality actually sits on the SURFACE of the sphere. The sphere is expanding (the universe is expanding) and thus each point on the surface of the sphere is slowly moving away from every other point.

Consider that we are one point on the surface of that sphere - we are indeed in the center. EVERY point on the surface is in the center - from the perspective of that point.

So - are we the center of the universe? Yes. Is every other point in the universe the center of the universe? Yes.

(for those of you wondering what is inside the sphere - this was simply an illustration to get across the point of a 'center of the universe' question - however, one current theory is that what we experience as reality is actually a 'holographic' projection of the surface of the sphere into the interior. Such a projection would be fuzzy because there is far more area in the inside of the sphere than on the surface. We are very close in technology to being able to see if that fuzziness actually exists - which would confirm the 'holographic' nature of the universe).

Aloha!

[–]ethomp 5 points6 points ago

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Ah. Well. Never mind then. That'll learn me to try and apply simple terrestrial physics to the entire universe.

Thanks for dropping the knowledge!

[–]KaneHau 2 points3 points ago

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Well, your answer makes 'sense' if one doesn't dwell on it too long :)

But here is an additional way to think about it - if you think there is an 'edge' to the universe, than some planet 'near' that edge would see 'not much' in one direction, and 'quite a bit' in another.

With that in mind, we would have to be dead center in order not to see that discrepancy (or the universe would have to be way bigger than we can detect, such that we don't have to be dead center).

I think much of this fallacy comes from inaccurate thinking about the nature of the universe. We tend to think of it as having boundaries - or edges - much like early humans though the earth was flat and you could fall off (or thus, see the 'end' of a side).

But, if you think of the 'big bang' (which probably was more of a whimper), it expanded from a point - thus like a bubble expanding, it is a sphere (in reality, it would be a sphere of space-time, with expansion happening in the time dimension).

Think of yourself on the face of the planet - if you were to 'travel' in a 'straight line' across the planet, you would eventually return to your starting point.

[–][deleted] 3 points4 points ago

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wtf is on the outside of the sphere? nothingness? if nothingness goes on forever isnt that void 'something'?

help. brain. dying.

[–]KaneHau 3 points4 points ago

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Aloha listentotheney:

My use of a 'sphere' was to put this into a fairly simple term to allow people to visualize the discussion.

The 'sphere' that is our universe is composed of both time and space (expansion is happening through the dimension of time - if there was no time, there would be no expansion).

What is 'outside' the sphere is 'outside' of the universe - that is, it is outside of the dimensions that make up our universe.

There are many current theories out there as to what exactly is outside the universe (and whether or not there was something before the big bang).

You might look at one of the more popular contenders - Brane theory (Brane as in Membrane). These are theoretical constructs outside our universe that are thought to create universes when they collide with each other (with a proper collision, a universe spins out - and in some variations of the theory, a collision can cause two universes to spin out in opposing directions).

There may indeed be many universes (even perhaps an infinite amount). We can not see the other universes because we our bound by our dimensions (however, we think we may be able to detect whether or not our universe existed before the big bang - by examining ripples in the background that may have been created by an earlier universe that collapsed and then created our own big bang).

[–]KaneHau 2 points3 points ago

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Also... "wtf is on the outside of the sphere? nothingness?" - well yes and no. We can not, at this time, observe outside our universe (but we can theorize and we can test theories that may show our universe is impacted by other universes).

However, you can be pretty certain that 'outside' the universe physics and dimensions are not what we find 'inside' our universe. In fact, we are pretty certain that it is possible to have universes with completely different physics that we are used to in our universe... and it is even possible for a universe to exist where time runs backward (in fact, it may run backward in our OWN universe - but because we are a part of it, we perceive it as running forward - but to someone in another universe with the capability of observing our universe, they may witness our time moving backward in relation to theirs).

So you can think of 'outside the universe' as having conditions and dimensions that are completely unlike what we are used to. Is it empty? Absolutely not. What does it contain? Time will tell :)

[–]ttustudent 60 points61 points ago

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I can see my house!

[–]TeedleJay 166 points167 points ago

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"I'M SIGNIFICAAAAAANT!"

[–]angrylawyer 113 points114 points ago

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Quick! Create a YouTube and twitter account!

[–]swampnuts 45 points46 points ago

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Yells the self aware speck of dust...

[–]GyantSpyder 21 points22 points ago

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Size doesn't equal significance. Invisibly tiny particles of raditiation, next to which you are gargantuan, can destroy you. A single virus can infect an entire elephant. Somebody twice as fat as you isn't necessarily twice as awesome.

[–]the_fewer_desires 12 points13 points ago

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"...said the dust speck."

[–]FableForge 23 points24 points ago

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What amazes me the most is that we have managed to know this. How the hell did we creatures on such tiny mote of dust were able to cognitively know that so much exists so far away from here?

And how many other motes of dust elsewhere have managed to gain that same knowledge, and just stare at it like we do? We have that much in common.

[–]Luminaire 7 points8 points ago

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Technically most of the zoomed out map is actually the universe millions/billions of years ago, since thats how long it took for the light to reach us. We'd only be educated guessing as to what it looks like now.

[–]WisconsinPlatt 20 points21 points ago

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Just remember that you're standing on a planet that's evolving And revolving at nine hundred miles an hour, That's orbiting at nineteen miles a second, so it's reckoned,A sun that is the source of all our power.

[–]princetrunks 10 points11 points ago

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and lets not forget the Sun is revolving at great speeds around the supermassive black hole in the galaxy's core, while the galaxy itself is shooting outwards into space...and towards the Andromeda galaxy.

[–]MatthiasII 22 points23 points ago

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The sun, and you and me, and all the stars that we can see, are moving at a million miles a day, in an outer spiral arm, at forty thousand miles an hour, of a galaxy we call the Milky Way.

FTFY

[–]wasrackart 20 points21 points ago

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man, I got such a weird feeling from the last frame! Awesome.

thanks a bunch for posting.

[–][deleted] 82 points83 points ago

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that is called a boner

[–]this_barb 57 points58 points ago

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What is this‽ A universe for ants

[–]redneck2420 3 points4 points ago

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How can we be expected to post clever things on Reddit if we can't even fit inside the universe? The universe needs to be at least... three times bigger than this!

[–]HerrUggla 61 points62 points ago

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How did they take that last picture? They must have been outside the universe to capture the whole universe. Why don't they just rotate the camera 180 degrees and take another picture so we now whats outside.

People make science harder than it needs to be.

[–][deleted] 29 points30 points ago

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How did they take that last picture?

Check the Exif. Nikkor 10.5mm f2.8 on a Nikon D2Xs. Easy really. Bloody long tripod extension too.

[–]Luminaire 13 points14 points ago

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The awesome power of uncrop.

[–]ani625 16 points17 points ago

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My God, it's full of stars!

[–][deleted] 17 points18 points ago

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It's even more full of nothing though.

[–]ShortFuse 10 points11 points ago

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And I still feel fat

[–]HIPPOisSKEPTICAL 31 points32 points ago

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I had no idea our milky way galaxy was so big. Not compared to alot of other galaxies, but I always imagined it having only a couple handfuls of solar systems.

In terms of how big space really is, I think the last picture wasn't great at depicting it. I think this one does a much better job http://twistedsifter.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/size-of-the-earth-compared-to-the-rest-of-the-universe-space-planets-stars.jpg

[–]fani 21 points22 points ago

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Something I read recently blew my mind ten fold.

You know how big our solar system is?

Did you know that Pluto is barely 1/5000th of the distance to the edge of our Solar System?

The solar system extends for a distance 5000 times the distance of Pluto to the Sun !!!

My brain just refused to compute at that point.

[–]maushu 26 points27 points ago

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Where the heck did you get the idea that our galaxy had "only a couple handfuls of solar systems"? I mean, just look at all those stars at night.

[–]thatoneguydunno 18 points19 points ago

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(spoiler alert)

But unluckily a little animalcule was there in a square cap, who silenced all the other philosophical mites, saying that he knew the whole secret, that it was all to be found in the "Summa" of St. Thomas Aquinas; he scanned the pair of celestial visitors from top to toe, and maintained that they and all their kind, their suns and stars, were made solely for man's benefit. (Voltaire, Micromegas)

[–]Talking_Hair 28 points29 points ago

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Serious Question: In the TV Show Star Trek, how far was Voyager if it were to be placed on such a map?

[–]LoveGoblin 35 points36 points ago

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All Star Trek maps are approximate (i.e. none are exactly canon), but here's a decent example. You can see there at that Voyager gets thrown out to the edge of the Delta Quadrant in the upper right; Earth is on the border between the Alpha and Beta Quadrants.

For all intents and purposes, the entirety of Star Trek takes place within the Milky Way - and mostly in our little quarter-or-so of it.

[–]zer0mass 16 points17 points ago

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For all intents and purposes, the entirety of Star Trek takes place within the Milky Way - and mostly in our little quarter-or-so of it.

I never realized that. This is also mind blowing.

[–]swampnuts 32 points33 points ago

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It was across the galaxy from us. Like the part where it shows a top down view of the milky way, just basically on the opposite side. Just our galaxy alone is mind numbingly huge.

[–]exscape 13 points14 points ago

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Voyager is set in the opposite corner of the milky way.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c6/Galactic_Quadrant.PNG

[–]NoMoreNicksLeft 1 point2 points ago

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In comparison, Stargate Command's ships could have made that trip and still been home for supper.

[–]Skwiggity 24 points25 points ago

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Why did we name all the other galaxies and suns badass names, but name our Galaxy the "Milky Way" and name our Sun.... "Sun"?

[–][deleted] 10 points11 points ago*

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The name Milky Way comes from the Ancient Greeks who believed Hera spilled a can of milk over the heavens, because from our vantage point the milky way looks like a bleak streak across the stars.

The etymology of Sun is far less interesting, just a bastardisation of the Spanish word for 'shine'.

[–]ravenrriddle 18 points19 points ago

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Isn't the Sun actually referred to as "Sol"?
I could be wrong, I don't actually know anything.

[–]humblepieandcustard 27 points28 points ago

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I don't actually know anything.

Are you sure? How do you know that?

[–]Astrokiwi 11 points12 points ago

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That's just Latin for "Sun".

[–]hey_gang 3 points4 points ago

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Which Spanish word for shine? I only know "brillar".

[–][deleted] ago*

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[deleted]

[–]forlornhope 32 points33 points ago

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There are 7M LONG GIANT EARTHWORMS!?!

Yes, this is about as far as I got before my head asplode.

[–]thomasry 18 points19 points ago

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Yeah it's really sad this is all I got out of it too. Our insignificance compared to the size of the universe is amazing and all, but I'm really concerned about these worms now.

[–]Noodlypriest 8 points9 points ago

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Another reason not to go to Australia.

[–]Schrute_Logic 8 points9 points ago

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Well I got to 9% before I gave up on that one. Anyone else?

[–]nm3210 10 points11 points ago

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Same thing but legitimate servers: http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/525347

[–]Pas__ 8 points9 points ago

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Here's a "full screen" version: http://zomg.hu/universe

[–][deleted] 8 points9 points ago

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I clicked on that and as it was loading and my screen was mostly black, I could see my reflection while thinking about how insignificant we are in the universe. It really puts a perspective on problems you, I or anyone might have. It's alright to think these things but when you look at yourself, the only thing you ever really have, it's different. Kind of puts your reality in the picture.

[–]UserAccountThree 7 points8 points ago

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Always loved this thing. Mindblowing.

Also, can't wait for Betelguese to explode. Might take 500 years or might happen sometime this week. Will be an amazing sight in the sky for a few days at least for whoevers around to see it.

Of course, any Civilisations in nearby solar systems probably won't be pleased to see it explode for obvious reasons... but of course to 'nearby' solar systems Betelguese probably exploded ages ago, anyway. Staggering thought!

[–]mercilessblob 4 points5 points ago

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Really, no one else is surprised by the 7m earthworm?

Well damn... Jim got big.

[–]disrespected_opinion 130 points131 points ago

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god was obviously photoshopped out of this

[–]Cullpepper 65 points66 points ago

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which one?

[–]n3xg3n 94 points95 points ago

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The right one... duh.

[–]perpafactor 53 points54 points ago

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The one my parents and their parents believed in ... duh

[–]luhjan 27 points28 points ago

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The 'MERICAN ONE!

[–]djfubarius 17 points18 points ago

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nah he was too busy playing dice

[–]luhjan 20 points21 points ago

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or giving AIDS to children in Africa.

[–]superwinner 9 points10 points ago*

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And watching them starve to death at the rate of 14,000 per day, while doing nothing.

[–][deleted] 10 points11 points ago

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I ate a $43 steak last night and 14,000 kids are dying of starvation a day. Fuck I feel like a piece of shit.

[–]anon1821 7 points8 points ago

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The Reapers Are COMING !

[–]absolutmenk 4 points5 points ago

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Grants amazing perspective. Thank you.

[–]foomp 6 points7 points ago

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FORNAX VOID

[–]nueve 8 points9 points ago

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does this make anyone else want to quit their jobs?

[–]defenestrationist 178 points179 points ago

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It's when I look at amazing pictures like this that I just cannot understand why the idea of religion based around our planet and our planet alone can make any sense at all. How can anyone who is a believer look at this and still call their religion justified.

[–]WildKittyv1 183 points184 points ago

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They don't really look at these types of things.

[–]Creative_eh 86 points87 points ago

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Ignorance is bliss.

[–]uat2d 20 points21 points ago

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And knowledge is power. Thankfully I'm no longer ignorant.

[–]Sneglen 24 points25 points ago

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And France is Bacon.

[–]Logical1ty 65 points66 points ago

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We do, and it just reaffirms our faith...

I guess it depends on the religion's outlook. Mine doesn't talk about how important we are, but how important and awe-inspiring God is (sort of the same reaction you get when you look at this picture), and how insignificant we are.

[–]ColdShoulder 43 points44 points ago

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Mine doesn't talk about how important we are, but how important and awe-inspiring God is (sort of the same reaction you get when you look at this picture), and how insignificant we are.

Significant enough for god to create the universe specifically with you in mind. There are a lot of things to be said about theism, but there is nothing humble about believing the all-powerful creator of the universe cares about you specifically and he monitors your happiness (some even profess a personal relationship).

[–][deleted] 5 points6 points ago

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God is an omnipotent being, he doesn't have to budget time to do anything. He can monitor everyone in the universe if he wants to. Thinking God pays careful attention to you is not like thinking God pays attention to you at the expense of other things, or as opposed to other things.

[–]lou 9 points10 points ago

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You're absolutely right, but feelings of self-importance and of some kind of purpose and role in the universe does not necessarily require religion to achieve. Some people just also believe that in the context of religion.

I don't know if anyone actually believes the universe was created for you, and only you in mind -- there are religious people who will say that, but it doesn't make them right. That feeling probably only came around in the last twenty years or so, at about the same time self-esteem became an important child-rearing concept and many parents and teachers, irrespective of any faith, were told to praise their kids and make them feel special.

[–]condeh 10 points11 points ago

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It's not so much that the believers are humble, but that it is an humbling experience to so insignificant and yet specifically cared for.

[–]ColdShoulder 6 points7 points ago

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But here is the thing: if god specifically cares for you, then you aren't insignificant. I have found theism to have a very strange mixture of self-loathing and self-importance, and I'm not trying to be rude, but it just doesn't make sense to me. Either your insignificant and your life is unimportant or the omnipotent creator of the universe specifically cares for you, wants you to be happy, and you are important. I don't see it working both ways.

This is just my honest opinion, but I feel that humans are constantly humbled by their insignificance in this world and universe, and as a result, we have created god to make us feel that someone loves us, wants to protect us, and that we have a just leader who will give us a purpose to our otherwise "purposeless" lives. In addition, I think the belief in gods came out of a sense of powerlessness, and the desire for good people to be rewarded and bad people to be punished. Just my 2 cents though...

[–]Logical1ty 9 points10 points ago

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There are a lot of things to be said about theism, but there is nothing humble about believing the all-powerful creator of the universe cares about you specifically and he monitors your happiness (some even profess a personal relationship).

Why wouldn't God have a personal relationship with all that exists, not just us? There's something to be said for us being intelligent life and how rare that likely is, so we might occupy a higher rung on the ladder of "God's favorites", but otherwise, who says the rest of the universe and whatever other life is in it doesn't matter?

[–]gingers_have_souls 9 points10 points ago

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According to most religions God only created an eternal paradise for humans, only bothered to communicate his intentions to humans and apparently designed most of life to be brutally murdered and eaten to sustain the dominant life forms. If I was anything other than a human, I'd be pretty pissed off at how absolutely brutal life is.

[–]superwinner 30 points31 points ago

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Yup, only a truly arrogant person think all this was put there just for him, or us. The humble person realizes that we are next to insignificant and lucky to be here at all.

[–][deleted] 5 points6 points ago

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Another reason to feel insignificant: the elements we are made out of, the elements that compose our world and solar system, may not even be the principle stuff of the universe. Only 4% is the stuff that we can see or that we can detect; the rest of the 96% is "dark matter" which does not even reflect light.

[–]Dark1000 3 points4 points ago

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Does anyone really doubt that there are other intelligent lifeforms out there? Just look at it! How many planets just like Earth are out there?

[–]raspy33 3 points4 points ago

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The odds are in your favor.

[–][deleted] 4 points5 points ago

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You should really convert to spherical coordinates.

[–]cjdyal 3 points4 points ago

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It was crazy when I played Mass Effect for the first time and had to zoom out over and over in order to see the galaxy map, so I could travel somewhere.

[–]jmoriarty 5 points6 points ago

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I want to get a shirt that says "Virgo Superclusters". Maybe add in "Eastside" if I wanted to get Galactic Gangster on it.

[–]femo1170 5 points6 points ago

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So remind me again why I'm stressing about a term paper? I forgot.

[–]fuckinggoogleit 2 points3 points ago

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I tried to understand it, I even googled it. My mind is still so blown and can't comprehend just how fucking awesome this is.

[–]G-Creature 4 points5 points ago

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Reminds me of this!

[–]joemangle 3 points4 points ago

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i think it was carl sagan who said something like "human beings are the universe's way of understanding itself," which is a very attractive idea, even if the universe's reaction to getting sense of the size of itself (possibly infinite in size) could only be a doom-laden intergalactic "WTF"

[–]PhillipMacrotch 3 points4 points ago

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Anyone that says or thinks we are alone in this universe is full of shit. There is no way we are the only living beings out there.

[–]swiftthrills 34 points35 points ago

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Why are we here?

[–]doubtfuldude 131 points132 points ago

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Would it be too shocking to tell you that there isn't a reason? You're sentient dust. Enjoy it while you can.

[–]SquareRoot 6 points7 points ago

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Oh yeah? Well, you're a towel.

[–]NickLee808 20 points21 points ago

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Potato chips.

[–]Yurumtin 27 points28 points ago

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Because here, by definition, is where we are.

[–][deleted] 13 points14 points ago

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loaded question.

[–]EssPea 7 points8 points ago

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Because we are.

[–]Davdak 7 points8 points ago

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[–]tellahoohooo 49 points50 points ago*

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Don't forget...we're the only life in all of that ;)

edit (clearly the downvoters have missed the implied sarcasm of the above statement...)

[–]anttirt 14 points15 points ago

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Chances are there's no way around the speed of light; a likely scenario is that there's life out there but we're never going to come in contact with it.

Saying that there's no life out there is an extremely bold claim.

[–]bobsomeguy 15 points16 points ago

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I don't know, if we can manage to avoid destroying ourselves, we could have biological aging and most causes of death under control in the next hundred years or so. In 300 to 500, we could be sending out interstellar probes to other stars and shortly after that, we could be sending out colony ships. Even if we never travel faster than 30% of the speed of light, in 10,000 to 100,000 years, we could have hundreds of colonies in our little part of the galaxy. What could realistically wipe us our at that point?

When you consider the type of time scales the universe operates on, a civilization like ours could be reaching the other side of our galaxy a few million years from now. In fact, if intelligent life was even remotely common, earth should have been found and colonized long ago. Maybe it was.......

[–]janjko 18 points19 points ago

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Well.. Maybe. Probably not.

[–][deleted] ago

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[deleted]

[–]ltx 17 points18 points ago

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That's incredibly unlikely.

[–][deleted] 18 points19 points ago

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Sent to my roommate who is currently being petty about ridiculous shit.

[–]alecjay4 4 points5 points ago

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I love space.

[–]minerman 3 points4 points ago

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I always thought that if there is "life after death", it involves space being infinite and my soul being transported millions of light years away to some place completely mindfuckingly different.

[–]WetHotAmerican 2 points3 points ago

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My brain just froze, had to restart.

[–]dranojunkie 2 points3 points ago

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Does anyone else find themselves going back and forth between pictures, trying to slowly comprehend the size and space but find that their brain can't handle the idea of something that large?

[–]athe-physic-ist 29 points30 points ago

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When you look at this, you feel insignificant. This is where religion comes in and tries to give you purpose. It says your purpose is to serve God. Yet what people do not realize is that you are insignificant in religion. You are just another servant, kneeling before your master hoping to spend eternity with him/her. You are nothing more than a servant. When you look up at the night sky, or see a picture such as this, you may feel insignificant. It is understandable, but then you should step back and think. The light from each of these stars has traveled hundreds, thousands, or millions of light years to interact with your retina. The elements in the cores of these stars are the same that make up your existence. You are not insignificant, you are part of the universe. You are the universe, just as each and every person, planet, star, and black hole are. Insignificance does not exist, we all exist as equal. You are a servant to no God. How can anyone say that this view makes you feel insignificant. You should tremble in awe at how amazing the universe is...at how amazing you are.

[–]windsorlad111 12 points13 points ago

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I find this view point hard to take when I watch my son stick peas up his nose.

[–]Whiskey-Trot 7 points8 points ago

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Do you guys ever feel like your starting to understand this realm and where we are in the universe, but then the thought flies away and im back to thinking about food and sex.

[–]Rockyn 7 points8 points ago

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I am nothing.

[–]Just_another_man 5 points6 points ago

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Yeah, there's probably aliens somewhere. Too bad we'll most likely never see them.

[–]lasagnarodeo 12 points13 points ago

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We see them all the time in Arizona. They're just detained and then sent back to Mexico.

[–]Tanalius 6 points7 points ago

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Just looking at that makes it hard for me to deny that there must be tons of life out there.

[–]youknowsomeguy[!] 7 points8 points ago

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Right in the center. WHERE WE BELONG!!!

[–]NothingReallyEnds 2 points3 points ago

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I'm sure that I have some influence on the objects directly next to me and that those objects have some influence on the objects next to them etc. Thus, by induction, I'M THE RULER OF THE UNIVERSE! And don't you come back recursively to me! And when there are no objects next to some objects, then tough luck for them: I don't care that I have no control over non-objects.

[–]ordinaryrendition 2 points3 points ago

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Isn't it great? And I'm the king of the whole thing! I'm important!

[–][deleted] 2 points3 points ago

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The total perspective vortex (redux)

Anyone else feel like a microscopic dot on a microscopic dot

[–][deleted] 2 points3 points ago

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Inaccurate, the Milky Way is a bar spiral galaxy.

[–]old_skool 2 points3 points ago

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Serious question - is there any particular reason that these are represented as cylinders? Or is it just happenstance that the creator of the image has some strange fixation on canned food and sees our universe as an extrapolation of that?

[–]lowrads 2 points3 points ago

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TIL the universe is the perfect shape to fit inside a test tube.

[–]Master_Rux 2 points3 points ago

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From this distant vantage point, the Earth might not seem of particular interest. But for us, it's different. Look again at that dot. That's here, that's home, that's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there – on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.

The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds.

Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.

The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand. It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.

-Carl Sagan

[–]Mookchook 2 points3 points ago

sorry, this has been archived and can no longer be voted on