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Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known. -Carl Sagan

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all 76 comments

[–]Nurkas 91 points92 points ago

Is it bothering anyone else that it puts us in the pillars of creation?

[–]herpalicious 46 points47 points ago

Or that the asteroid belt is dense

[–]Gemini4t 28 points29 points ago

It doesn't. It goes past the pillars of creation. This is a reversed shot of the opening scene of Contact, where we zoom out from Earth while listening to radio broadcasts gradually going backward in time the further out we go, until we get radio silence as we zoom past galactic clusters. Eventually we come out of Jena Malone's eye as she uses her dad's ham radio.

[–]DruePhoenix 10 points11 points ago

It bugs me that they put them backwards too. The tall pillar faces right from our perspective, so it would point in the other direction coming from behind. Also the lighting would be completely different. Also you wouldn't be able to see that many asteroids in the belt, as it is very sparsely populated. Also etc etc etc

[–]gamelizard 18 points19 points ago

technically they likely don't even exist any more

[–]SomePostMan 3 points4 points ago

I guess, if we get that technical, our view is traveling several times faster than the speed of light - the farther away, the older the light, and the closer we get, the younger. So we'd see large objects like that in fast-forward motion, like the last 250 years (or whatever) of its existence over a couple seconds.

So, if you took a perspective trip through space like this, because of how viscous (so to speak) light is on this large of a scale, the galaxies and clusters and nebulae would all appear to be wildly churning and spinning and all.

[–]berthol 1 point2 points ago

This blew my mind a bit.

[–]DruePhoenix 0 points1 point ago

Damn supernovae.

[–]dochollandaise 4 points5 points ago

Yep, noticed that too.

[–]pulledteeth 3 points4 points ago

You miss the point. It's a loop. Thus implying we're all connected.

Come on reddit.

[–]Learfz 1 point2 points ago

Especially seeing as how they've already been torn asunder by a supernova...

[–]Thud 1 point2 points ago

And none of the distances are to scale.

This one, however, is far more impressive. Play full screen in HD, turn the sound up, and turn off the lights.

[–]QuitReadingMyName 1 point2 points ago

Is that even accurate that we are in the pillars of creation? I never knew this if its true.

Either way, I guess if I ever do get abducted I would know how to make it back home?

Edit: Has to be wrong, I doubt we're that close to the Galactic core.

[–]Nurkas 10 points11 points ago

Yeah, the only reason we can take a picture of them is because we aren't inside them. In fact, they're probably already destroyed by a supernova, but the light hasn't reached us yet.

[–]EFG 5 points6 points ago

Also, it's a false color image, the pillars are essentially invisible in the visual spectrum.

[–]hoppydud 2 points3 points ago

I've seen them visually!

[–]sexual_pasta 1 point2 points ago

Nope, the Eagle Nebula (the pillars are a feature within this) is ~7000 ly away, though I suppose that the animation could be seen as traveling through the nebula before reaching Earth.

That aside, I like how it shows the milky way inside a galaxy inside a different galaxy.

[–]QuitReadingMyName 0 points1 point ago

Yeah, I remember us being in one of the outer arms.

[–]sexual_pasta 2 points3 points ago

[–]HurricaneHugo 0 points1 point ago

They're not even there anymore! =(

[–]Areat 28 points29 points ago

The moon is way too close. Such a moon would cover the entire sky. It's actually way much smaller and thankfully far away from crashing range.

[–]skyhawk22 17 points18 points ago

Wow, I never thought of it as being so far away. I mean obviously it can't be as close as it is in my head because that would be way to big in the sky but wow.

Makes me appreciate the extraordinary feats of Apollo a lot more.

[–]FlintGrey 6 points7 points ago

I'd say. If he's holding up the moon he's got to have lots and lots of feets in height.

[–]danthemango 1 point2 points ago

what's important here is the distance between them relative to the diameter. Remember that ball on the left, smaller than a penny there, is literally the largest thing you'll probably ever see relative to your own perspective. Any mountain, any valley, any continent, any ocean, it's all on that ball.

[–]Theon 45 points46 points ago

I like how it doesn't make any sense.

[–]SunnyKatt 0 points1 point ago

My favorite part was how the camera moved faster than light.

[–]flano1 18 points19 points ago

Well it wouldn't be a very good video if it took 78 billion years to watch :)

[–]Acidictadpole 2 points3 points ago

It'd also kill my bandwidth limit..

[–]Richard_M_Lurkmoar 0 points1 point ago

it's cool - just keep your monitor resolution low

in case anyone missed it yesterday: link

[–]jt004c 3 points4 points ago

Did you find that absurd? I'll bet you also mock video games that let you jump unrealistically high or survive multiple gunshots.

[–]SunnyKatt 0 points1 point ago

Nah, it was necessary to make the animation at all interesting.

[–]jt004c -2 points-1 points ago

Except it does.

[–]DumbUsername420 3 points4 points ago

There are quite a few technical inaccuracies in their representation, most of which are specified and discussed in this thread.

[–]jt004c 1 point2 points ago

Yeah, except that almost every one of them is a misunderstanding on the critic's part.

The actual technical inaccuracies are either inconsequential or forgivable artistic license.

[–]EFG 19 points20 points ago

Neil deGrasse Tyson would have a stroke over all the wrong going on here.

Edit: Separated words.

[–]DejaBoo 4 points5 points ago

But before he croaked he would surely have some epic shit to say about it.

[–]EFG 2 points3 points ago

Now I'm imagining him clutching his chest with one hand, breathlessly pointing out all the different wrong shit going down as he struggles to remain conscious, his eyes flutter as he fades, whispering:

"...and the moon isn't... that motherfucking close...to the goddamn earth...tidal...forces...would...rip..."

[–]Blind0ne 14 points15 points ago

I cant believe no one recognizes this as the opening of Contact played in reverse.

[–]tuckidge 5 points6 points ago

Some of us did. There were a lot of things wrong with that opening sequence too. I forget the exact timing of what but it had radio broadcast from the 80's still around Jupiter or something line that. Grossly wrong. Also the simulation and location of our star is all off. I think the point though was to express how damn big tho whole thing is. And let's be fair, CG people for movies and producers are far from astronomy experts. But, for something "for Carl", you think they would have looked into it more...

[–]flyprdu -2 points-1 points ago

To the top with you!

[–]psYberspRe4Dd[S] 3 points4 points ago

I don't know about the source..it says "Contact Micael Reynaud" in the title.

The universe is much bigger than shown in this gif as it starts close to galaxy cluster.

[–]davalf 10 points11 points ago

It's the reverse of the intro sequence to the movie Contact. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLQF-4uyD4Y

[–]psYberspRe4Dd[S] 2 points3 points ago

Ok thanks. Thought of it but couldn't remember this scene in the movie..

edit: and yes I also noticed how this isn't really realistic - but it's still great and most of it is.

[–]this_is_a_sign 1 point2 points ago

Umm, why does it go through Centaurus A, followed by a nebula? That's just inaccurate... Still, I am a sucker for these things so I found it cool :)

[–]srikamaraja 1 point2 points ago

I've watched Contact so many times I immediately recognized this as the introduction in reverse... Still, goosebumps.

[–]raforther 0 points1 point ago

Anyone catch that the "face" of Mars is seen?

[–]ideaman21 0 points1 point ago

Very cool

[–]tamagawa 0 points1 point ago

My favorite galactic zoom shots are in Stephen Hawking's Into the Universe series. From Earth to the solar system to the galaxy to the galactic cluster to the interconnected webs, strands and tendrils that make up the large-scale universe, all in kick-ass high-def CG graphics. I hope the new Cosmos has some awesome shots like that.

[–]psYberspRe4Dd[S] 1 point2 points ago

I'm going to post a great (and accurate) universe zoom video here too after a while..haven't seen it on reddit yet but is the best thing I ever saw...

[–]mrpoops 1 point2 points ago

Just started watching on Netflix. Awesome.

[–]bacondavis 1 point2 points ago

13.4 MB, no wonder Imgur is over capacity

[–]psYberspRe4Dd[S] 1 point2 points ago

You can't host gifs of that size on imgur - just look at the adress it's not hosted there.

[–]Dzsono 0 points1 point ago

Surely this universal trip is going faster than light, which would cause the .gif to shed mass until it returns to the speed of light. Isn't that right?

[–]superdude4agze -2 points-1 points ago

Our whole universe was in a hot dense state,

Then nearly fourteen billion years ago expansion started--Wait!

The Earth began to cool,

The autotrophs began to drool,

Neanderthals developed tools,

We built a wall (we built the pyramids),

Math, science, history,

Unraveling the mystery,

That all started with the Big Bang! BANG!

[–][deleted] ago

[deleted]

[–]goblinpiledriver 3 points4 points ago

It made me think of 3rd Rock from the Sun

[–]nosspark 5 points6 points ago

Made me think of Contact.

Because that's what it's from.

[–]Pants_R_Overatd -5 points-4 points ago

This should be x-posted to /r/trees

[–]psYberspRe4Dd[S] 2 points3 points ago

It's on /r/woahdude and that's where I find all the tree un/related amazingness - if it's not on trees already you could post it there..

[–]Pants_R_Overatd 1 point2 points ago

Eh I'd rather have comment karma then link karma. Someone else can take it.

Although, it appears I am going to take a hit for this comment. Oh well.

[–]psYberspRe4Dd[S] 0 points1 point ago

See the dowvotard a comment below. I don't care about the karma but I won't post it there because I post all this to this to /r/woahdude where I think it belongs instead of /r/trees..haven't seen many posts like this there.

[–]Pants_R_Overatd 1 point2 points ago

Thanks for getting my back buddy.

I had completely forgotten about /r/woahdude, I agree it belongs there instead.

[–]QuitReadingMyName -3 points-2 points ago

Fuck /r/trees and the dumb ass kids in that subreddit.

[–]winterborne1 0 points1 point ago

Is this where I go to get -3 karma?

[–]QuitReadingMyName -1 points0 points ago

I just speak my mind, why I'm not in negative karma yet just blows my mind.

[–]machine0101 -5 points-4 points ago

the sand is spilling out of your vagina.

[–]Pants_R_Overatd -5 points-4 points ago

Alrighty then.