If there actually is a creator of this universe, it must have a twisted sense of humor.

"It" allowed light to travel fast enough so that we could see the vastness of the universe, but made it physically impossible to actually traverse it in it's entirety.

So all that leaves us with is the ability to comprehend how infinitesmally small we really are.

LOL. sweet.

Absolutely amazing....Ive seen the hubble ultra deep field video so many times, yet every time i watch again, im simply awe-struck.

Think about getting up, and going to work every day, following some routine, sitting in front of a computer reading this thread, while ALL THAT STUFF is out there. Its just hard to comprehend.

How do you know this? how do humans know this? ive been told this by other people "there are planets" ive never gone to one....

mail me, genesis2012@live.co.uk

Absolutly awsome. It brings everything into perspective. The universe is full of such wonder, such astounding beauty on a scale that we cannot event begin to imagine.

one thing to remember though, if it wasnt for the vastness of the universe we would never be able to appreciate the beauty and complexity because its only distance that allows us to see the universe for what it is.

If we were right next to one of the larger stars it would fill our whole sky and we would never be able to see anything else beyond our own planet.

It makes me sad to think the universe is so vast that we will never ever get to see those things up close.

I feel so incredibly small!

Proper thanks for the picture, and for the Video - for putting it into perspective.

Wow....


- Carrot

I absolutely love items such as this. Attempting to explain virtually infinite realities in conceptual terms is an art all to itself. Bravo to AlwaysQuestion for this excellent find, and to the others for their cool supporting links.

A while back I developed a conceptual framework to help grasp the awesome power of the Sun and huge distances at work merely within our own Solar System and came up with this:

Imagine the Earth is the size of a Golf Ball. Now imagine that the Moon is the size of a Garbanzo Bean (Chick Pea). This is the relative sizes between the Earth and Moon. The distance between them would be about 51 inches, or the about the distance of one and a half yard sticks. At this scale the Sun would be over 11,600 golf balls away from Earth, or about 400 times the distance between the Earth and Moon – 600 yard sticks if you prefer. So imagine going into your front yard and setting down a Golf Ball, and then the Garbanzo Bean 51 inches away. Now start walking for about a third of a mile, and that is where the Sun would be. At this scale the Sun would be a little over 15 feet high, or five of your yardsticks. Finally, imagine how hot a fire would have to be to heat up the Golf Ball in your front yard from that 15 foot high fire ball from so far away!

I realize that these are all approximations but they are still roughly right, and seem to get a ‘wow’ type response whenever I use it in conversation; usually over a beer or some wine.

thanks to everyone for posting all that you did!(links etc)

i have posted them on another web-site they are bickering already
,
some things will never change, no matter how much you try

no matter how insignificant they are , they are still up there own holes

its a pleasure to be with or type to folk who appreciate where we are, or where we might be?

to insignificanse

wow, thanks for making my day!
could you imagine how much energy that last star is putting out? it truly is incomprehensible.

one thing that i've always admired about our own solar system is how each planet has a twin that's almost the same size. like venus is our sister planet.
amazing!

great post. I love visual aides. it really makes you feel insignificant when looking how small our little planet really is. To imagine how much life in many different forms that there must be..IMO. thanks

Originally posted by spitefulgod
Here is another video of the millennium simulation which is a simulation of dark mater distribution in the universe, now to me it always kinda looked like some kind of neural network..

A couple of us here had to get a reminder of how meaningless our lives and civilizations are compared to the vast and (maybe) endless universe. We're dust.

crazy to think a Star can be that big, and a Atom can be so small, the range in diversity is insane!

Originally posted by karl 12

Originally posted by spitefulgod
Here is another video of the millennium simulation which is a simulation of dark mater distribution in the universe, now to me it always kinda looked like some kind of neural network..

whoooa, its like there's a universe in my mind!!! haha or maybe the universe is a giant mind and im just a passing thought! very cool picture tho, thanks for sharing.

so you mean to tell me that after looking at these series of pictures people still believe we are alone in this universe?

That picture made me wanna run around in small circles screaming.

another perfectly good day ruined by science.
damn you science
what did you ever do for me?

hehehe big is purely realative an atom would think an ant was BIG the ant sees a person as big the person sees the universe is big. . . if this is the way nature works and each system is merely a cog in a bigger system then big no longer even begins to cover it.

If we live in a multiverse then the term "big" becomes meaningless as it would be inadequate to descripe a multi-dimensional space. I mean we may have a multitude of universes parralell to one another while huge in scope from our perspective it may be contained in a sapce only a few microns in depth

Great post ! real humbling.

I have a question,are we inside sirius,which is inside pollux or are they seperate stars like our sun,and also have their on planets orbiting,like earth orbits the sun

whoooa, its like there's a universe in my mind!!! haha or maybe the universe is a giant mind and im just a passing thought! very cool picture tho, thanks for sharing.

that brings up a very interesting point actually. . . the universe as you know it only exsists in your mind. . . we only know what our sences can interperate so yes in a very real sence the universe is in your mind. You can imagine a lightbulb in all its shining glory while you are submersed in darkness. You can emulate any sound inside your mind while your wearing earplugs in a sound proof booth.

The mind in the human case is the universe.