I think my brain just imploded.

Theon · 1 year

And that's why I believe there is intelligent life in the universe besides us.

Also, Total Perspective Vortex?

Thud · 1 year

Play this in HD (full-screen) and prepare to wipe your brain off the wall when you're done.

ayeright · 1 year

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imnotsoclever · 1 year

I still think my personal problems are super important.

Jurax · 1 year

Everytime I see something like this my brain just stops imagining and, although completely amazed, stuff like superclusters remain abstract. Same thing with huge numbers. I wish I could comprehend but alas our brains are not made for that

grumpystoo · 1 year

Just to bring things into scale. If our sun was shrunk down to a quarter of a inch. Pluto would be 100 feet away, measuring around .0007" in diameter. The earth would be 2' 6" away from the sun measuring around .0026" in diameter.

The largest known star, at this scale would be 42 feet in diameter. The nearest star to our own would be 130 miles away. Light travels .06" per second, or 1" every 16 to 17 seconds or 30 miles in a year.

"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

schmooma · 1 year

I have a hard time even comprehending this.

Xhafzotaj · 1 year

I think the Milky Way representation is off. It used to be represented like this, but I'm pretty sure current astronomy has shown we live in a barred spiral galaxy.

VinylCyril · 1 year

Our great-grandchildren will have to learn all that shit in school. Plus all the capitals of all the galaxies at least.

infinitree · 1 year

I've always been a fan of scientific facts which put the world and universe into perspective. One of my favorite books growing up was "2,201 Fascinating Facts", published in 1983. Some of the interesting facts from the "Universe: Stars, Planets, Space" section:

If one were to capture and bottle a comet's 10,000-mile vapor trail, the amount of vapor actually present in the bottle would take up less than 1 cubic inch of space.
To an observer standing on Pluto, the sun would appear no brighter than Venus appears in our evening sky.
The Earth moves in its 585-million-mile orbit around the sun approximately eight times faster than a bullet travels.
When the Apollo 12 astronauts landed on the moon, the impact caused the moon's surface to vibrate for fifty-five minutes. The vibrations were picked up by laboratory instruments, leading geologists to theorize that the moon's surface is composed of many fragile layers of rocks.

socialite-buttons · 1 year

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

fuzzybunn · 1 year

Thankfully, as a Singaporean whose country is unresoluble on the World Map, I'm used to feeling very small.

championchap · 1 year

If you could put the universe into a tube, you’d end up with a very long tube, probably extending twice the size of the universe.

airmartini · 1 year

So is there a floor and a ceiling for the universe or are is it 'infinite in all directions? Discuss.

primehunter326 · 1 year

I feel small

Halk · 1 year

It is very very difficult to show how small we are compared to everything else and this is roughly the best attempt I've seen.

zerton · 1 year

I don't really understand how they are explaining the size difference of the cylinder without some chart. Is it exponentially increasing in volume? Random?

Fir3start3r · 1 year

I've always thought this was one of the best movie intro ever. It certainly makes you feel small....http://youtu.be/kNAUR7NQCLA

ThumperNM · 1 year

It's a great depection, thanks for posting it.

spaceman77 · 1 year

Carl Sagan - Pale Blue Dot

[deleted] · 1 year

I know it got a bum rap, but Spore was actually pretty good because of how large the solar system was.. It'd take years to fully colonize and explore that legitimately.

ilikespoons · 1 year

Another brain / wall wipe required.

azriel777 · 1 year

All that space and we still have not (yet) left this rock to start exploring or colonizing other worlds. :(

Jonthrei · 1 year

This EXACT image was in an atlas I had as a kid over 20 years ago. I'm impressed. Anyone happen to know what that old atlas was called?

jonnyozero3 · 1 year

I had no idea there were so many stars within <16 light years of us. Looks like there could be a few more shown on the 'Solar Interstellar Neighborhood' graphic: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_nearest_stars .

crazy_raisin · 1 year

I get space dementia just by looking at this.

tagged_by_thuy · 1 year

There's really a solar system called 61 virgins? Wow.

Terostero · 1 year

Every time I think I've got my head wrapped around just how big the universe is, something like this pops up and shows me just how wrong I am.

nickgknight · 1 year

While this probably can't be answered because we don't know what is beyond this "observable universe", what would the end of space look like? A big wall like The Truman Show? Could it just go forever? All this "space" has to be inside of something else, doesn't it? Amazing...

einexile · 1 year

My brain is really big so I'm not having such a hard time with this.

radiation_overload · 1 year

Not just other intelligent life in the Universe. There is other intelligent life in Earth. There is other intelligent life inside our own body. We should not have so much hubris to think we are unique.

As below so above and beyond.

irregodless · 1 year

Along the same lines: A tiny glimpse

PHLAK · 1 year

Relevant: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kBbEQvgJec

studebaker · 1 year

total perspective vortex

AsAChemicalEngineer · 1 year

Although an amazing graphic, there is some strong suggestions that the Milky Way is a bar galaxy.

socialite-buttons · 1 year

Think about all that matter and energy that's out there. I wish we could harness it.

Avien · 1 year

If galaxies were pimples, then God's got one hell of an Acne outbreak.

</end religious parent explanation of how the universe works to questioning child>

jazzyjaffa · 1 year

It goes just as far the other way. Double mind blown.

hydrogenous · 1 year

Someone/ something is looking at a similar pane as the last image and is cocksure that i am looking at the same photo and thinking the same thing... we both have in common a desire to learn from each other, but our species is so narrow minded that most of our compatriots will never seriously consider that thought or spend much time and energy to solving the problem of interstellar/intergalactic travel and communication.

humbleskeptic · 1 year

Yet still: "There are an estimated 75-100 trillion cells in the human body. Which is a number that is higher than the estimated galaxies in the Universe."

Even when compared to the entire universe, we can still relate. Life is pretty awesome.

whozurdaddy · 1 year

How do they know what the milky way looks like? There's no way to see it because we are in it.

robotur · 1 year

I've seen similar pictures a hundred times. But what truly blowed my mind are these universe "simulator" programs.

For example: SpaceEngine. (This one is still under heavy development)

Other similar program is Celestia

MONDARIZ · 1 year

Yup, it's a pretty big place.

grimatongueworm · 1 year

The mote in God's eye.

[deleted] · 1 year

It's sad that I've seen this so many times that I'm not that blown away by it.

el_pinata · 1 year

Khan Academy does a really good series on this.

[deleted] · 1 year

Every time I play Mass Effect.

GilliamOS · 1 year

Karma-whoring at it's finest. This originated from National Geographic and you gave no credit where it's due.

YPD · 1 year

Did someone get a bit carried away while playing with spray paint in the last 2 tabs?

dafones · 1 year

Yeah dude, we're small.

DNT · 1 year

Awesome!

Eakere · 1 year

Space is big? Who knew!

1 year

[deleted]

1 year

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space

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