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Putting our Solar System into perspective. A universal perspective. (imgur.com)

submitted ago by tuaru

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[–][deleted] ago

[deleted]

[–][deleted] ago

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[–]accioreddit 8 points9 points ago

well. i....feel tiny

[–]amando96 2 points3 points ago

TIL: Minecraft world is bigger than Planet earth.

[–]counting_kittens 3 points4 points ago

I had no idea the minecraft world was so large.

[–]Scuzzzy 20 points21 points ago

I prefer the video format. I can't even comprehend something the size of those last stars. If we ever had the technology to visit other solar systems and approach those stars, how closely could we safely approach before being incinerated? Would you even be able to see the star or would it just be a giant wall of light stretching from horizon to horizon?

[–]f0rdf13st4 6 points7 points ago

in this video Venus rotates the wrong way

[–]dudley-vs-mothy 5 points6 points ago

Imagine if every one of those stars had a solar system identical to ours but on a larger scale, right down to any life forms. There could be giant humans out there looking back our solar system and laughing at how little any life forms must be. And on a cosmic scale we have really really tiny penises.

[–]mcstain 2 points3 points ago

And on a cosmic scale we have really really tiny penises.

Speak for yourself, my penis is red and supergiant.

[–]Vanguvang 113 points114 points ago

This one's almost as old as the universe itself.. but its still a great image!

[–]Sin2K 11 points12 points ago

The phrasing of the title makes me wonder... How does the size of our whole solar system (complete orbits and distance between planets) stack up to the size of the larger stars? Anyone got a chart for that?

[–]othermike 20 points21 points ago

VY Canis Majoris has a radius of ~6.6 AU, which is a bit bigger than Jupiter's orbit (~5.2) but smaller than Saturn's (~9.6).

[–]ShitBeCrazy 5 points6 points ago

Good Lord.

[–]alexxerth -2 points-1 points ago

The size of the entire solar system, however, goes out about 1000 times further than Pluto, so that star seems tiny still.

[–]Fudanchi -1 points0 points ago

That actually makes VY Canis Majoris seem smaller than I thought but the distance between Sun and Jupiter much greater.

[–]fast74 8 points9 points ago

For the vast majority of cases the size of the star is nothing compared the distance between planets, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97Ob0xR0Ut8

[–]_Insano_ 2 points3 points ago

Not a chart but numbers (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vy_canis_majoris#Size):

It is approximately 1,420 ± 120 solar radii (6.6 astronomical units), about 1,975,000,000 kilometres (1.227×109 mi) in radius,

Astronomical unit = Mean Distance Earth->Sun

The largest orbital radius (around the geometric center of its orbit, not its distance from the sun, FYI) of Neptune is ca. 35 AU. The solar system is still much larger than these stars, but 5 of our planets (up to and including Jupiter) would be swallowed up by its size alone if the sun were to be replaced with Canis Majoris. Gravitational effects would, obviously, swallow the rest of our solar system. A Physics student might feel the impulsive desire to calculate how long it would take for our planets to be swallowed up by Canis Majoris.

Additional fun fact: light generated on one end of CMa would need almost an hour to reach the other end. That's how big the star is. As a comparison, light needs about 8.5 minutes to travel from the sun to the earth.

[–]wolfgang5feet 6 points7 points ago

Anyone seeking more info might also check here:

title comnts points age /r/
It's hard to get tired of this picture 215coms 1138pts 4mos pics
Relative sizes of stars 3coms 1pt 3mos pics
Mind Blown 20coms 56pts 6mos pics
Size of the Earth (pic) 15coms 13pts 1yr pics
Just how tiny and insignificant we are [pic] 64coms 131pts 1yr pics
Just to put things into perspective 71coms 950pts 1mo funny
It's hard to get tire of this picture_(FIXED) 5coms 53pts 4mos funny
To put things into perspective... 286coms 1181pts 6mos funny
Relative size of planetary bodies 12coms 39pts 1yr funny
The size of ... 172coms 1131pts 1yr funny
Great Masses of the Universe 6coms 11pts 1yr pics

[–]Zepfanman -1 points0 points ago

I've clicked through half of these and still can't find an original source. Origin?

[–]tuaru[S] 10 points11 points ago

It still amazes me even now. A brilliant representation and something that truly pushes the human mind to its full capacity.

[–]sendmorechuckberry 5 points6 points ago

Is there a version where you see them next to each other?

EDIT: Ok after watching THIS I realize how insignificant that would be.

[–]tuaru[S] 6 points7 points ago

You wouldn't be able to see the Sun next to VY Canis Majoris. Let alone the rest of our Solar System.

[–]ctolsen 4 points5 points ago

There's this one. But yeah, at full size you're right.

[–]mardob 12 points13 points ago

You mean like this?

http://i.imgur.com/lCIqi.jpg

It's 100 objects. Just pretend the sun is the smallest one, and the biggest being VY Canis Majoris.

[–][deleted] 2 points3 points ago

Now that the planets are aligned we should prepare for the Titans.

[–]Entler 1 point2 points ago

http://imgur.com/GC6Hp YV Canis Majoris to scale in Universe sandbox simulator.

[–]OsamaBinSteve 0 points1 point ago

That's such a wonderful game. Thank you for reminding me that I have it! Time to conduct science!

[–]goldec 1 point2 points ago

I found this - the sun (one pixel) compared to canis majoris.

[–][deleted] ago

[deleted]

[–]drylube 24 points25 points ago

Chill.

[–][deleted] ago

[deleted]

[–]dwyface 1 point2 points ago

I disapprove.

[–]hilldex 0 points1 point ago

I hadn't seen it, and it really taught me something! Thanks :D

[–]Soothe 17 points18 points ago

To be honest I never thought this image provided great perspective. You can't keep changing the scale if you want to maintain perspective. This image is better.

http://i.imgur.com/E2Sro.jpg

[–]Southtown85 2 points3 points ago

So, basically if our Sun was a grain of sand, Canis Majoris would be a beach ball? That's crazy.

[–]Dazanan 23 points24 points ago

After seeing that I wanted some numbers

VY Canis Majoris (VY CMa) is a red hypergiant in the constellation Canis Major. It is one of the largest known stars by radius and also one of the most luminous of its type. It is approximately 1,420 ± 120 solar radii[7] (6.6 astronomical units), about 1,975,000,000 kilometres (1.227×109 mi) in radius, and about 1.2 kiloparsecs (3,900 light-years) distant from Earth. VY CMa is a single star categorized as a semiregular variable and has an estimated period of 2,000 days. It has an average density of 5 to 10 mg/m3.

Fuck me...

[–]Huggernaut 9 points10 points ago

Jesus...just to put this another way, the diameter of VY Canis Majoris is about 13x the distance from earth to the sun....

[–]nyneve 6 points7 points ago

The diameter of VY Canis Majoris is larger than the distance from the sun to Saturn.

[–]steviesteveo12 -1 points0 points ago

Yeah, radius can be a deceptive measurement. It's easy to forget that there's a whole other half of the sphere.

Also, it's a sphere, so it's slightly over 13x the distance from the earth to the sun in all directions.

[–]bitemybubbles 18 points19 points ago

Why do the stars have shadows ?

[–]tregota 30 points31 points ago

Yeah imagine the power of a light source that would make stars throw shadows..

[–]Eriamjh1138 3 points4 points ago

My GOD! Look at the size of that TABLE!

[–]NisotaSkypra 6 points7 points ago

Pictures are nice, but it's hard to distinguish size.. Check out this video! ^ YouTube link

[–]jam_i_am 3 points4 points ago

According to Wikipedia Canis Majoris is only 17 +- 8 solar masses? How is that possible when it is so large? Is it much less dense? Does that mean it is also much cooler than the sun?

[–]Graenn 3 points4 points ago

With an average density of 0.000005 to 0.000010 kg/m3, the star is a thousand times less dense than the atmosphere of the Earth (air) at sea level.

ಠ_ಠ

[–]steviesteveo12 1 point2 points ago

There's a scene in The Mote In God's Eye where Niven and Pournelle have a spaceship fly into a red supergiant on the basis that it's so diffuse it's more like a hot, dense nebula than what we would usually think of as a star.

[–]I_just_post_stuff 0 points1 point ago

That's only a layman speculation but the article mentions also there is some controversy regarding the nature of the star. It's big apparent size might come from the gas surrounding it. But that's just all layman speculation.

[–]utsuriga 0 points1 point ago

Just a layman speculation but isn't Canis Majoris basically like a huge balloon of a star that keeps expanding and losing mass until one day it finally goes "bang" and collapses on itself? As far as I know as they're nearing the end of their life stars' "metabolism" speeds up and they start losing their material... or something like that.

[–]sciencethedrug 6 points7 points ago

Relevant: http://htwins.net/scale2/

[–]poeticmatter 1 point2 points ago

I like this for scale:

http://scaleofuniverse.com/

[–]EhsEmKay 0 points1 point ago

We'll have to nuke it from space. It's the only way to be sure. Wait...

[–]Falconhaxx 40 points41 points ago

Reported for breaking subreddit rules.

not blogspam, an image, video or an infographic.

[–]gavin19 6 points7 points ago

How does a subreddit with 30 mods allow a rule-breaking post to last this long?

[–]vanostran 0 points1 point ago

It's a disgrace to humanity.

[–]gavin19 0 points1 point ago

Indeed, but the image puts it all into a bit of perspective.

[–]nallen 0 points1 point ago

It's sunday morning, mods gotta sleep too!

[–]gavin19 0 points1 point ago

Call me crazy, but it might be quite handy to have at least some mods that aren't from the same time zone :)

[–]nallen 0 points1 point ago

Easier said than done, we can't find people some time zones.

[–]gavin19 0 points1 point ago

Almost 2 million subscribers and you can't find any volunteers that aren't from America?

[–]nallen 0 points1 point ago

Shocking ain't it?

Another dirty secret is on an average day there are only 2-4 active mods.

[–]ZeekySantos 0 points1 point ago

It seems we have to do this every week. Fucks me right off.

OP: Read the sidebar, do not post this shit, it does not belong here.

[–]returning_cactus 6 points7 points ago

Personally, I find OMG SPACE! to be a better representation.

[–]I_just_post_stuff -1 points0 points ago

Well played Margot Trudell, well played.

[–]Xenro 1 point2 points ago

Imagine the planets around those stars. There are probably human-like/aliens the size of Mt. Everest. You know, to scale with gravity and shit.

[–]Vorpal_Hammer 1 point2 points ago

Nope. The Square/Cube law makes giant humans (and giant ants) impossible. Weight increases much faster than available muscle mass, so the 50 foot tall woman couldn't even breathe or pump blood through her body.

[–]mturk -1 points0 points ago

Imagine the planets around those stars. There are probably human-like/aliens the size of Mt. Everest. You know, to scale with gravity and shit. [6]

FTFY.

[–]BeautifulMania 1 point2 points ago

Space is too big. LET'S BOMB IT.

[–]banzai33 3 points4 points ago

Doesn't really put it into perspective, though. By the time you get a few images on the brain just doesn't comprehend it properly. It never will.

[–]tonef 0 points1 point ago

Holy-moly we are tiny-whiny!

[–]AnnoyinImperialGuard 1 point2 points ago

Always Relevant

[–]chucker23n 3 points4 points ago

How can you mention Wolf 359 without a Borg cube nearby?

[–]derpfromyerp 0 points1 point ago

From the 3rd picture on, the vastness of objects became sirius.

[–]HighburyFieldsForeve 1 point2 points ago

For the sake peace & quiet in my puny brain I'm going to assume VY CMa takes up most of the space in the universe and just leave it there.

[–]Magicalusername 0 points1 point ago

I think it needs more zoom.

[–]yourhonestredditlens -1 points0 points ago

No one posted this video, so I will. The one you guys posted in this thread is still hard as heck to look at: Link

[–]ericmoritz 1 point2 points ago

How big is the moon compared to Mercury?

[–]ShinCoal 0 points1 point ago

Appearantly outdated, VY Canis Majoris also wasn't as big as they thought (still incredibly fucking big though, and thats an understatement)

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

[–]Xok234 0 points1 point ago

Now I wanna see it all lined up...

[–]madsvh 1 point2 points ago

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17jymDn0W6U Even more amazing to me :P

[–]GaProgMan 0 points1 point ago

I ended up creating a poster that was very similar to this when I was a Maths teacher. I did it to try and show the difference between units of measure. I had the distance between Earth and Mars in millimeters, centimeters, inches, meters, miles and feet under it with common conversion formulae.

I think it's still there. Pity they didn't take it to the new building, though

[–]shmeeandsquee 0 points1 point ago

am i the only person who saw this wen they were 4th grade?

[–]BigChongaWonga 0 points1 point ago

Betelegeuse.

[–]ferthbero 1 point2 points ago

If you want some lovely perspctive: http://en.spaceengine.org/

[–]shawnaroo 0 points1 point ago

I started playing with space engine yesterday, and the scale of it is mind blowing.

For those who haven't tried it, imagine an entire simulated galaxy where you can click on any star in the sky, and travel to it. And every star has planets that you can travel to (and land on). And most planets have moons that you can travel to (and land on). Oh and if you leave the MilkyWay, you'll see that there are millions of galaxies available. And each of those galaxies are full of individual stars, orbited by planets, orbited by moons, all of which you can go to and land on.

Most of it is procedurally generated, but it's still all at a realistic scale, and very fun to play around with.

[–]ferthbero 1 point2 points ago

You can also make very nice wallpapers using Space Engine. You can change the texture quality and get detailed mountains on your planet. Have two stars in the sky and maybe even a moon somewhere in the corner.

Take this for example: Screenshot

source:Space Engine ForumsUser: 'HarbingerDawn'

[–]cumfarts 0 points1 point ago

BETELGEUSE BETELGEUSE BETELGEUSE

[–]DarkXlll 0 points1 point ago

Orange

[–]MasterOfEspeonage -1 points0 points ago

So is VY Canis Majoris the biggest planet we know of? And I wonder jsut how big they can get.

[–]Vorpal_Hammer 1 point2 points ago

It's a star, not a planet. Planets much bigger than Jupiter actually become stars.

[–]MasterOfEspeonage 1 point2 points ago

Oh that's cool to know, thanks for the information.

[–]Cuddlejam 0 points1 point ago

I just cannot fathom how something can be so big. I love it.

[–]caracarn 0 points1 point ago

Can someone put them all into one picture to get some perspective?.. Like earth is a football, and the biggest star is the size of earth or something.

[–]mindsnare -1 points0 points ago

I can't even tell you how many god damn times I've seen this, a gif of this, or a youtube video of this on Reddit.

[–]Creativation 0 points1 point ago

This 95 second documentary style video also puts our place in this image in perspective: The size of a solar eruption.

[–]ggggbabybabybaby 0 points1 point ago

I feel like the human mind is just so laughably bad at understanding these levels of scale.

[–]Zyvexal 0 points1 point ago

I still think that Aldebaran, Antares and Betelgeuse are the best names ever thought up for anything.

[–]hairyneil 0 points1 point ago

I still think the Scale of the Universe2 is better than these pictures

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point ago

This is why I giggle when people say humans are important.

[–]SalamanderSylph 0 points1 point ago

Is it just me who read the largest star in #4 as Alderan?

I hadn't seen this image before, thanks for sharing :)

[–]autobutt -1 points0 points ago

how old is this...

[–]writing_emphasis 0 points1 point ago

Wolf 359- never forget

[–]drifter105 0 points1 point ago

i just felt like nothing all of a sudden..

[–]clumsyturtle 0 points1 point ago

I feel so insignificant.

[–]kermonmyferkinterts 0 points1 point ago

Holy fuck.

[–]InvalidZod 0 points1 point ago

Suddenly my penis doesnt feel so big anymore

[–]DraperyFalls 0 points1 point ago

No matter how many times I see these perspective pictures, it never stops blowing my mind.

[–]i_am_new_there 0 points1 point ago

what's the real estate market like on VY Canis Majoris?

[–]Banatza 0 points1 point ago

first look - i want to kick the shit out of those balls second look - hmm... thats very intersting

[–]strdcr 0 points1 point ago

My dad (who's an astronomy teacher) taught me the other day that the sun would not fit between the Earth and the Moon; in reality, 1/3 of the sun's diameter would fit between us and the Moon. I knew the sun was huge, but it really put it in perspective for me

[–]axolotlolol 0 points1 point ago

I like Aldebaran because of Saint Seiya.

[–]FoxBattalion79 0 points1 point ago

anyone have a link to that one pic where the largest on in the universe is "your mom"?

[–]PullOutBoy 0 points1 point ago

imagine terrafoming those planets and living on there.

So like we know of all these planets, where the fuck are the aliens?

[–]Weegemonster5000 -4 points-3 points ago

I can't even image this in my mind. It's so perplexingly logical.

[–][deleted] ago

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[–][deleted] ago

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[–]sarmatron -4 points-3 points ago

this is rly old tho

[–]propthink -2 points-1 points ago

I upvoted before the picture even loaded. Knew what was coming, but it is a classic :)

[–]thesuccessfultroll -2 points-1 points ago

In these comments, /r/science gets amped up after watching Revenge of the Nerds.

[–]27POP27 -2 points-1 points ago

I kind of already know this, but, what the fuck

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