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The Size of Planets [gif] (gifs.gifbin.com)

submitted ago by hail_to_the_victors

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[–]newton1643 49 points50 points ago

The Size of Planets and Stars

FTFY

[–]Mooseheaded 29 points30 points ago

The Size of Planets and Stars and Our Moon

FTFY

[–]TinyMontgomerySaysHi 8 points9 points ago

I almost x'ed out after Jupiter showed up! Glad I waited.

[–]TheOthin 0 points1 point ago

I think it works. The size of planets, first relative to other planets, then relative to stars, then relative to bigger stars by means of the smaller ones.

[–]TeethofBusey 58 points59 points ago

Are these stars all in our galaxy?

[–]JamesAQuintero 42 points43 points ago

yes.

[–]TeethofBusey 26 points27 points ago

It makes me wonder just how much bigger stars can get. I know the Milky Way is a pretty big galaxy, but it seems like a safe bet that in some bigger and older galaxies that they could have stars that dwarf the largest here.

[–]JamesAQuintero 28 points29 points ago

I'm pretty sure there are bigger stars in our own galaxy, let alone others. Scientists actually have tried before to determine how realistic a star could be before it collapses on itself. That equation was thrown out the window when they discovered VY Canis Majoris. I'd say there are probably stars tens of times bigger.

[–]Ukkie 40 points41 points ago

Big stars are red giants, and are just that, giant. They aren't more massive than they where in the past, they are just less dense. At a certain point gravity will overcome the electron degeneration after fusion has stopped and the star will shrink and become a neutron star. Even further neutron degeneration is overcome by gravity and a black hole is born.

There is also a limit on the maximum radius of a star given its mass, the Hayashi limit. Since mass is limited, radius is also limited. This doesn't count for all stars, but it does for the ones that we are talking about.

You should look at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddington_limit

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hayashi_limit

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electron_degeneracy_pressure

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neutron-degenerate_matter#Neutron_degeneracy

[–]JamesAQuintero 0 points1 point ago

I don't understand what your point it.

[–]Ukkie 15 points16 points ago

I first explained there is a limit on mass, and then declared there is a limit on radius connected to mass. There is a limit on how big stars can get, and we know that limit. This contradicts your statement.

[–]JamesAQuintero 10 points11 points ago

But we don't know that limit since VY Canis Majoris is bigger than scientists previously thought was possible. Are you saying there's a new limit?

[–]Ukkie 11 points12 points ago

Yes and no. It's size is estimated and the upper bounds fall outside of what we think is possible. The lower estimates do not.

There is also the issue of defining what actually is the surface of this star. The outer layers are what we would call a vacuum on earth, and is not gravitationally bound.

[–]JamesAQuintero 2 points3 points ago

I agree. Reading the wikipedia article, it states how there is controversy among scientists about these things. Source

[–]mkdz 3 points4 points ago

Do you have a source for that?

[–]JamesAQuintero 3 points4 points ago

You could have done this research

[–]sukotu 8 points9 points ago

That's insane, hard to imagine how anything could be that big.

[–]BlackNarcissus 4 points5 points ago

Then try to imagine the scale of the Universe. If it means anything in this context. Good luck.

[–]sukotu 6 points7 points ago

I know, crazy. Space is fucking awesome!

[–]hooah212002 2 points3 points ago

We're all in space right now...... standing on a rock hurtling through it.

[–]hoodis 2 points3 points ago

I would say that it is impossible to imagine something that size.

[–]Isatis_tinctoria 2 points3 points ago

Is that the largest star in our galaxy?

[–]JamesAQuintero 8 points9 points ago

largest known star.

[–]Isatis_tinctoria -1 points0 points ago

I understand that. Is it the largest star known in our galaxy or the universe?

[–]seagramsextradrygin 4 points5 points ago

At first I thought this was a joke post because I x-ed out of the gif after they showed the Sun because I assumed it was over and it freezes on each picture for way too long.

[–]TeethofBusey 1 point2 points ago

I was about to close it too before it showed the moon, as soon as I saw that I knew what gif this was. I upvote it each time I see it because I can never fully grasp the scale of everything. I lose track of it once it gets past the third star that makes our sun look like a pixel, and it goes on for 30 seconds more of mind blowing crazy big stars.

[–]starstuff3 4 points5 points ago

All of the smaller stars with the non-scientific sounding names (from Sirius to Antares) are visible with the naked eye from most locations on Earth at some point in the year. I'm willing to bet that you've seen every single one of these stars (i.e. Sirius, Pollux, Arcturus, Rigel, Aldebaran, Betelgeuse, and Antares) with your own eyes at some point in your life but you just didn't know it at the time.

[–]muffley 126 points127 points ago

Really? A slow-ass gif?

Here's an album so we can watch the whole thing before the end of the day. And go backwards.

[–]outofband 26 points27 points ago

Really? Just a image gallery?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEheh1BH34Q&list=FLFMBi2ekE7YKTOEMU7YZC4g&index=99&feature=plpp_video

[–]muffley 1 point2 points ago

I'm torn on this. In this situation, an image gallery is actually pretty good, but video does a great job too.

Either way, image gallery beats .gif in this case.

[–]pinion13 4 points5 points ago

Either way, every single time I see this it blows my god damn mind...

[–]TagW 1 point2 points ago

I like this video, except they left out Uranus for no apparent reason.

[–]AlexanderBlue 0 points1 point ago

By leaving out Youranus, they were able to post it on YouTube.

[–]freakedoutbunny 1 point2 points ago

This gif loaded super fast and flashed by way too fast. I want to trade and be able to see each slide!

[–]patio87 -1 points0 points ago

A god among men.

[–]jakjonsun82brian 18 points19 points ago

I wonder how long it would take to walk around the circumference of VY canis majoris?

[–]_bar 50 points51 points ago

Wolfram Alpha knows the answer

[–]tombodadin 34 points35 points ago

289,000 years! I don't understand how a person can read facts like this and not be amazed. I mean I am truly amazed by the universe. Baffles me how people pretend this is fiction.

[–]quadcem 12 points13 points ago

Oddly enough, the X-43 could zip around it in only 103 years -- ignoring that its scramjets wouldn't work in space.

[–]muffley 6 points7 points ago

With all the atoms around the exterior of a star, I wouldn't be surprised if scramjets would work in that space. Minus the melting bit.

[–]Zephyr104 8 points9 points ago

and the fact that the Earth is MUCH older than that time is ridiculous

[–]gamelizard 2 points3 points ago

the earth is far older than and will far out live vy canis majoris.

[–]thatsmellyindiankid 13 points14 points ago

wow, and it would take light about 9.5 hours to go around

[–]BenKenobi88 6 points7 points ago

It takes light 90 minutes to go from the center to the surface, although I'm pretty sure it's actually way longer than that because of how stars work, right?

[–]Mitcheypoo 7 points8 points ago

Yar. The photons in the sun take somewhere between 17,000 and 50,000,000 years to reach the sun's surface.

[–]alexjames21 1 point2 points ago

Photons FTFY

[–]Mitcheypoo 0 points1 point ago

Haha, yes, sorry.

[–]BenKenobi88 -1 points0 points ago

I just figured they have printing shops on stars, and it takes them a really long time to deliver photos.

[–]ProbablyOnTheToilet 0 points1 point ago

But remember that from the photon's POV, it all happened instantly!

[–]10000yearsfromtoday 0 points1 point ago

If they travel that slow within a star, what are they? Wouldn't their wavelength be so so slow / compressed / stretched that they would be a different kind of energy, not a photon?

[–]kker1 0 points1 point ago

Trying to consider relativity's effects and the limits on the propagation of forces WITHIN A STAR makes my brain try to turn inside out to stop thinking about it...

[–]billwoo 3 points4 points ago

It knows all the answers.

[–]Oberoth 0 points1 point ago

Still only half of one percent of the age of the earth: http://m.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=%28%28circumference+of+vy+canis+majoris%29+%2F+%28snail+speed%29%29+%2F+%28age+of+the+earth%29&x=0&y=0

Insane.

[–]gemineye1969 15 points16 points ago

I would probably run because I bet the surface is kind of hot. So it wouldn't take as long also.

[–]ohwhyhello 1 point2 points ago

What I thought was more amazing was the fact that a solar flare from VY Canis Majoris would take out our entire solar system probably. It would be huge. I would if the planets that are around VY Canis Majoris, if any, scale with its size.

EDIT: Nevermind. Oops.

[–]toxilium 1 point2 points ago

A solar flare? No. But if you dropped VY Canis Majoris in place of our Sun, it goes about to the orbit of Jupiter.

[–]ohwhyhello -1 points0 points ago

Ohh. I thought since it was a star, it would have a solar flare at some point, and considering it's size, it would be very large, and burn up all of our planets. (If it was like the last picture where our sun is placed up against the VY Canis Majoris as a size comparison.)

[–]FullSexWithAWoman 8 points9 points ago

At least a hour.

[–]synobal 14 points15 points ago

Intellectually I know these things are big, but to scale it is still mind blowing.

[–]Danger_Face 16 points17 points ago

I feel all small and insignificant now.

[–]trekkie80 18 points19 points ago

Astronomy has that effect on everyone who respects it.

[–]TeethofBusey 10 points11 points ago

At times I find the scale of the universe overwhelming, other times it is strangely reassuring. It helps me realize that no matter how much I worry about something, it is such a minor thing when thinking about the known universe.

[–]trekkie80 0 points1 point ago

Hmmm. How true, indeed.

[–]I_Fuck_Pigs 2 points3 points ago

How about this: That last star could fit about 1.26 decillion humans inside of it.

[–]schwepski 33 points34 points ago

I got really into that.

[–]naturesjoke 12 points13 points ago

And I won't get to explore any of it.... :(

[–]stonepickaxe 9 points10 points ago

I doubt any human ever will. As Carl Sagan once said, "It will not be we who reach Alpha Centuri, and the other near-by stars.. it will be a species very like us, but with more of our strengths, and fewer of our weaknesses. More confident, farseeing, capable, and prudent."

Link to video

[–]naturesjoke 0 points1 point ago

I really enjoyed that! Thanks for the link

[–][deleted] 33 points34 points ago

But what about Plu-- nevermind.

[–]DarkOnion 4 points5 points ago

Even though it isn't a planet I really wanted to see it. I mean it IS a fairly large body in our solar system.

[–]BCP6J9YqYF6xDbB3 16 points17 points ago

Not that large, that's why it's no longer a planet :) There are moons bigger than Pluto.

[–]DarkOnion 3 points4 points ago

Yeah I guess. But the the scale could work in the opposite direction with pluto, showing you how small pluto really is compared to the Earth and other planets.

[–]Stabies 4 points5 points ago

Like this!

[–]DarkOnion 0 points1 point ago

Exactly. Thanks!

[–]starstuff3 1 point2 points ago

It's actually not considered a planet because it hasn't cleared its orbit. The size is essentially irrelevant; it would be considered a planet if it was the same size but dominated its orbital vicinity.

[–]ghosteatingtiger 0 points1 point ago

It will always be a planet to me. It was my favorite and they killed it. 0_0

R.I.P. Pluto

[–]Ovarian_Cavity 2 points3 points ago

No, no! They didn't kill it, they just reclassified it into a new category!

[–]idontalwaysupvote 9 points10 points ago

For perspective I just looked up the diameter of VY Canis Majoris (2 billion miles) which is twice as large as the orbital diameter (average) of Jupiter. That is nuts to me.

[–]happycrabeatsthefish 8 points9 points ago

I thought it was going to end with "your mom"

[–]RuchW 1 point2 points ago

Just like the last one!

[–]Bucket_head 13 points14 points ago

This was awesome.

And that last star is a fucking monster.

What freaked me out was how massive Saturn and Jupiter are.. Imagine being the person who first spotted them and how much you would have shat your pants seeing something so giant and imposing through a telescope..

[–]muffley 29 points30 points ago

Sorry to throw cold water on you here, but you can see Jupiter and Saturn without a telescope! Jupiter is difficult to see now since it's across the sun from us, but Saturn is visible near the western horizon at sundown, just next to Mars.
When visible, Jupiter is the 3rd brightest spot in the night sky (4th behind the ISS, technically).

As for seeing them magnified, Galileo certainly must've had a bit of a shock when he first saw Jupiter through his telescope. But the speed of its orbit and its luminosity meant that even then Jupiter's size was roughly known to be huge. His surprise, I think, would be seeing 4 moons orbiting Jupiter, the first known moons of another planet.

[–]undercoveruser 4 points5 points ago

And now try to imagine (or watch this video) what it would look like if Jupiter orbited our earth at the same distance as the moon.

[–]gamelizard 1 point2 points ago

whats also interesting is that canis majoris will only live a few million years and is entering its death throws now. it will not supernova it will hypernova

[–]Cyrius 1 point2 points ago

Please don't drop the VY, it's important. There's a lot of stars in Canis Major.

[–]ramasg 10 points11 points ago

Moon is a planet now?

[–]Deusdies 5 points6 points ago

Ever since the Pluto ended...

[–]TheGreatScottie 6 points7 points ago

Who needs drugs when you have astronomy to blow your mind?

[–]aggiebuff 5 points6 points ago

No matter how many times I see this it still amazes and terrifies me how small we all actually are in this universe.

[–]polioman 2 points3 points ago

What I'd like to see attached to the end of this are larger and larger nebulas, working our way up to galaxies.

[–]RPGMancer 3 points4 points ago

Doesn't matter how many times I see this, I'm still blown away when I see the sun next to Canis Majoris.

[–]Isatis_tinctoria 7 points8 points ago

This is a great website on the scale of the universe, which I am sure many of you are familiar with, but other who haven't yet stumbled upon it may be delighted by it.

[–]impshial 4 points5 points ago

That's not the one I saw before. The one I viewed had a Minecraft world just past Neptune.

[–]sunadnerb 0 points1 point ago

http://htwins.net/scale2/

[–]carmenqueasy 0 points1 point ago

This? It was posted below, not sure if you saw it.

[–]Isatis_tinctoria 0 points1 point ago

Yeah, it would be intense to make a minecraft simulation of this from the planck length to the largest 900YM of the Universe being the estimated size of the universe.

[–]tombodadin 0 points1 point ago

"It's crazy that I closer in size by mathematical proportion to our fucking planet than I am to a hydrogen atom. That is some some teeny tiny shit." Einstein

[–]Seanothan 3 points4 points ago

I remember Bill Nye told me that three Earth's could fit inside Jupiter's red spot. In these it shows only one can fit. Someone is lying to me.

[–]nelliebear 6 points7 points ago

Well it's NOT fucking Bill Nye

[–]MidnightBacon15 2 points3 points ago

Anyone else feel insignificant now?

[–]ThePeenDream 0 points1 point ago

I'm just utterly blown away that there is that much space out there. And even more blown away that I can't even begin to comprehend it.

[–]ramen244 4 points5 points ago

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zlXR4jRYcxI/TZ61GLoEk0I/AAAAAAAAAKE/c4Z1L6HQHYA/s1600/DustSpeck-771221.jpg

[–]Syatek 3 points4 points ago

When it got to Betelgeuse I was like "There's NO way there's something bigger!"...

[–]stevenwalters 3 points4 points ago

This is the most reposted thing on Reddit, not that I'm complaining. I swear I've seen it once a week or more for a long time.

[–]xiDemise 4 points5 points ago

relevant compare the size of anything in the known universe.. favorite thing to do when im bored.

edit: if you're just interested in the planets and stars move the slider to the right. edit 2: also you can click on any item and it'll give you a description!

[–]BBQ_ur_booty 1 point2 points ago

Holy shit, thanks. Have you considered making this it's own post in r/space?

[–]xiDemise 1 point2 points ago

nope, but i can if you'd like.

[–]BBQ_ur_booty 0 points1 point ago

I'd upvote it in a heartbeat

[–]DarreToBe 5 points6 points ago

I always am a little curious when these images pop up what the satellites scale up to be so I made this. http://i.imgur.com/5Ttfq.jpg

[–]kapiteinkaalbaard 0 points1 point ago

Maybe you added to it and rearranged it some but you should give credit to the original:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Featured_picture_candidates/Moons_of_solar_system

[–]bnfdsl 2 points3 points ago

damn space, you scary

[–]Stoutpants 2 points3 points ago

It's a great big universe and we are really puny...

[–]BBQ_ur_booty 3 points4 points ago

We're just tiny little specs, about the size of Mickey Rooney...

[–]arkroyale 3 points4 points ago

I know this is probably impossible, but imagine if earth was the size of VY canis majoris? How vast the oceans would be and how long it would take for peoples to come in contact with each other. I think we as humans would evolve completely differently from others and we have a MUCH more varied species. Also even with today's tech there would be vast stretches of undiscovered areas. Also our natural recourses would last us a lot longer.

[–]Gliffie 1 point2 points ago

One of the oldest pictures on the web, but still as amazing today

[–]betabandzz 1 point2 points ago

Sin palabras my brain just can't process that much possibilities.

[–]kolivere 1 point2 points ago

full video

[–]zissou92 1 point2 points ago

This is pretty badass. I've finally actually been able to understand how the planets relate to each other in size. It's amazing how something this simple can teach me what several teachers tried to do forever.

[–]potholepreacher 0 points1 point ago

Go to the Haydn planetarium...it's mind blowing.

[–]1449320 0 points1 point ago

is it? It must be. I want so very badly to go there.

[–]earth_house 0 points1 point ago

What is size?

[–]Ethan0209 0 points1 point ago

My mind has been blown.

[–]brizzi 0 points1 point ago

soooooo sloww

[–]DontMatterStillKarma 0 points1 point ago

Uranus really us huge!

[–]frittenpiekse 0 points1 point ago

thanks muffley for the gallery, and if you take a closer look you can see that there's a mistake in this picture (the bar showing the size of our solar system)

1 solar radius equals 0.0046491 AU

1 astronomical unit equals 149,597,870,700 metres

Aldebaran has a radius of 44.2 ± 0.9 solar radius', what is about 0.2055 AUs, the median distance from earth to sun is 1 AU, which means Aldebaran would fit nearly 2.5 times between earth and sun

the average distance from neptune (the farthest planet in our solar system) to the sun is about 30.10 AU, Aldebaran would fit in between about 73 times

edit: the largest known star, VY Canis Majoris, has a diameter of 16.7 AU to 19.5 AU, which relates nearly the distance between Uranus and our sun

[–]Munsta750 -1 points0 points ago

Wow! Didn't know Uranus was that big!

[–]bigbadgreg 0 points1 point ago

It...just....kept going.

[–]LSJ 0 points1 point ago

I think the Earth is too big to fit on my computer screen.

[–]MrNickDolan 0 points1 point ago

Man, Uranus is so big! I bet you could fit like three Venuses in there.

[–]Drongthehard 0 points1 point ago

Way to make me feel insignificant. :(

[–]sunadnerb 0 points1 point ago

Welcome to Astronomy! :D

[–]BBQ_ur_booty 1 point2 points ago

Nothing like astronomy to make you feel like you don't matter. But wait, I take that back, since we are in this universe and made of the same things in the universe, we're just the universe experiencing itself.

[–]ninjatthew 1 point2 points ago

I see this reposted so many times and I'm still amazed by it.

[–]Masshole3000 0 points1 point ago

after Venus, I found myself repeating "oh shit that one's bigger.. oh shit, no that one's huge.. oh shit, that one just dwarfed our sun... oh shit that one's bigger... what the fuck..?"

[–]a4moondoggy 0 points1 point ago

hey ladies, my penis is as big as VY Canis Majoris and as hard as a neutron star.

[–]f0ad -1 points0 points ago

Any particular reason why the names of all the planets and the names of the stars are all used except for our sun (Sol)?

[–]gmucsg 0 points1 point ago

When thinking about things at this magnitude, I feel like vomiting. Is there a name for something like this?

[–]bennibent 0 points1 point ago

I feel smaller than the higgs boson

[–]drydorn 1 point2 points ago

I really was expecting a picture of "your mom's ass" to be the final image.

[–]MrDoubleE 1 point2 points ago

I have never felt more tiny and insignificant... I'm literally smaller than a spec of dust's spec of dust.

[–]bowlforthedude 0 points1 point ago

That was really fucking terrifying

[–]HungrySamurai 1 point2 points ago

Why does the gif use false colour images of Mercury and Venus, when every other planet is depicted as it appears in nature?

[–]lyssanicole 0 points1 point ago

I suddenly feel insignificant..

[–]daedalus733 1 point2 points ago

I can see absolutely no reason for this to be a gif.

[–]cammyfawkes 0 points1 point ago

This reminds me of the Total Perspective Vortex from the Hitchhiker's Guide.

[–]Moonbeamlaser 0 points1 point ago

HOLY SHIT, do I feel insignificant...

[–]timothyjc 1 point2 points ago

VY Canis Majoris is not the largest star.... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_known_stars

[–]sleenkey 0 points1 point ago

This makes me feel very uneasy.

[–]neon_overload 1 point2 points ago

For those who find animated GIFs annoying and frustrating

Here is a version as static images that all fit on one page.

[–]this_is_a_sign 0 points1 point ago

According to Wikipedia, there are even larger stars than VY Canis Majoris!

[–]WaveLasso 0 points1 point ago

I kind of died a bit i think

[–]jalyssah 0 points1 point ago

Its weird to think that there are bigger stars (safe bet) in bigger galaxies... and that there are some galaxies that defy our laws of physics as we know them. Makes humans so... unimportant. I mean, honestly, whats one planet compared to all the planets in all the other solar systems in all the other galaxies? I love space!

[–]CUNTRY 0 points1 point ago

Anyone else notice the name of the biggest one? Canus Majoris - Big Dog.

[–]SRFG1595 0 points1 point ago

Looking at VY Canis Majoris next to the sun nearly made me shit my pants. The fact that our star, that provides all of our energy, is so insignificant just boggles my mind.

[–]nubbie -2 points-1 points ago

I get why some chose religion over this, it's so much more easy to imagine. ;)

[–]SpiralSoul 4 points5 points ago

...Because obviously it's a choice between religion and believing that stars exist?

[–]hdd1080p 0 points1 point ago

If there are giant planets with the potential to support life revolving around any of those giant stars, then might there be giant organisms living on them? I am talking about organisms that make the largest dinosaurs look like mice.

[–]Cyrius 2 points3 points ago

If there are giant planets with the potential to support life revolving around any of those giant stars, then might there be giant organisms living on them? I am talking about organisms that make the largest dinosaurs look like mice.

Unfortunately, planets don't work that way. You can't plausibly make a terrestrial planet the size of Jupiter without it accreting huge amounts of gas around it.

And even if you could, the surface gravity would be enormous. That would apply selective pressure to make smaller organisms, not larger.

[–]upvoterss -3 points-2 points ago

is it just me or these gifs get posted on reddit about 3 times a month...

[–]SkilletDirac -3 points-2 points ago

Oh this gif again. Must be that hour of the day again.

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