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Diploid
Cuban



Registered: 01/09/03
Posts: 19,274
Loc: Rabbit Hole
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A Matter of Scale
#7697409 - 11/30/07 12:55 AM (16 years, 2 months ago) |
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The image below is a closeup of our sun. The sunspot in the picture is about the size of the Earth. Imagine how long it would take the oceans to vaporize and the Earth to incinerate into nothing if it were placed there. Talk about global warming!

Here's the Earth in perspective to the sun.

Then the sun compared to a few other smallish stars.

Then a few bigger ones. Betelgeuse is the reddish star at Orion's right shoulder.
-------------------- Republican Values: 1) You can't get married to your spouse who is the same sex as you. 2) You can't have an abortion no matter how much you don't want a child. 3) You can't have a certain plant in your possession or you'll get locked up with a rapist and a murderer. 4) We need a smaller, less-intrusive government.
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WhiskeyClone
Not here


Registered: 06/25/01
Posts: 16,509
Loc: Longitudinal Center of Canada ...
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Re: A Matter of Scale [Re: Diploid]
#7698083 - 11/30/07 09:26 AM (16 years, 2 months ago) |
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Damn we're small
-------------------- Welcome evermore to gods and men is the self-helping man. For him all doors are flung wide: him all tongues greet, all honors crown, all eyes follow with desire. Our love goes out to him and embraces him, because he did not need it. ~ R.W. Emerson, "Self-Reliance"
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trendal
Jā



Registered: 04/17/01
Posts: 20,815
Loc: Ontario, Canada
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Re: A Matter of Scale [Re: Diploid]
#7698163 - 11/30/07 09:45 AM (16 years, 2 months ago) |
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I don't think most people have a concept of the sheer size of most things in our universe. We are puny compared to them, truly.
I also think most people have little to no concept of time and it's vast enormity. I doubt most people can accurately picture what a million years is like...let alone a billion or, god forbid, five billion (age of the solar system).
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Once, men turned their thinking over to machines in the hope that this would set them free. But that only permitted other men with machines to enslave them.
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Silversoul
Rhizome


Registered: 01/01/05
Posts: 23,576
Loc: The Barricades
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Re: A Matter of Scale [Re: trendal]
#7698763 - 11/30/07 12:37 PM (16 years, 2 months ago) |
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Quote:
trendal said: I also think most people have little to no concept of time and it's vast enormity. I doubt most people can accurately picture what a million years is like...let alone a billion or, god forbid, five billion (age of the solar system).
Haven't you heard? The universe is only 6,000 years old, silly.
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nobhdy
ETNAV



Registered: 05/12/06
Posts: 1,401
Loc: CT
Last seen: 9 years, 6 months
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Re: A Matter of Scale [Re: Silversoul]
#7698858 - 11/30/07 01:01 PM (16 years, 2 months ago) |
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Im reading a book called Infinity right now. I must say, its having the same effect on me as this picture did when i saw it in like...the 4th grade.
-------------------- [quote]Gumby said: And if you are going to waste peoples time with your stupid questions, at least try to have grammar skills higher then that of a 7th grader. READ DAMNIT! [/quote]
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Silversoul
Rhizome


Registered: 01/01/05
Posts: 23,576
Loc: The Barricades
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Re: A Matter of Scale [Re: Diploid]
#7700252 - 11/30/07 06:17 PM (16 years, 2 months ago) |
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DieCommie


Registered: 12/11/03
Posts: 29,258
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Re: A Matter of Scale [Re: Diploid]
#7700338 - 11/30/07 06:40 PM (16 years, 2 months ago) |
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Also the scale runs pretty far in the other direction too of course! And we live somewhere in the middle...
Thx for the pictures! I enjoyed them
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PhanTomCat
Teh Cat....



Registered: 09/07/04
Posts: 5,908
Loc: My Youniverse....
Last seen: 14 years, 11 months
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Re: A Matter of Scale [Re: Diploid]
#7713503 - 12/03/07 11:23 PM (16 years, 1 month ago) |
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Quote:
Diploid said: The image below is a closeup of our sun. The sunspot in the picture is about the size of the Earth. Imagine how long it would take the oceans to vaporize and the Earth to incinerate into nothing if it were placed there. Talk about global warming!

That is an incredible picture....! The convection cells are pretty, almost silky....  I am sure the whole earth would be more like a single spark from a sparkler if it got near the sun....
It is usually difficult to grasp the ideas of such proportions, because they are not our relative size.... Makes the mind stutter a bit.... 
>^;;^<
-------------------- I'll be your midnight French Fry.... "The most important things in life that are often ignored, are the things that one cannot see...." >^;;^<
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SuperD
Cacti junky



Registered: 10/05/03
Posts: 6,648
Loc: The bridgesii bridge
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Re: A Matter of Scale [Re: Diploid]
#7721720 - 12/05/07 08:20 PM (16 years, 1 month ago) |
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I recently stumbled upon a site with a flash player showing how tiny we really are. It used the same pictures from the original post you made. It's truly mind-blowing.
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   D Manoa said: I need to stop spending all my money on plants and take up a cheaper hobby, like heroin. Looking for Rauhocereus riosaniensis seeds or live specimen(s), me if you have any for trade
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Ythan
į( į )į



Registered: 08/08/97
Posts: 18,774
Loc: NY/MA/VT Borderlands
Last seen: 3 hours, 14 minutes
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Re: A Matter of Scale [Re: trendal]
#7721743 - 12/05/07 08:26 PM (16 years, 1 month ago) |
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Here's what ten billion pennies would look like, to help with the visualization. 
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YidakiMan
Stranger


Registered: 09/28/02
Posts: 2,023
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Re: A Matter of Scale [Re: Ythan]
#7721830 - 12/05/07 08:44 PM (16 years, 1 month ago) |
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I took an astronomy course two years ago, I remember something called an M-chart I think.
Basically one super giant class of star was in the lower left hand corner and blue giants were in the upper right hand corner. Is anyone else more familiar with this? I'm not even sure I got the name right.
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Diploid
Cuban



Registered: 01/09/03
Posts: 19,274
Loc: Rabbit Hole
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Re: A Matter of Scale [Re: YidakiMan]
#7722023 - 12/05/07 09:30 PM (16 years, 1 month ago) |
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-------------------- Republican Values: 1) You can't get married to your spouse who is the same sex as you. 2) You can't have an abortion no matter how much you don't want a child. 3) You can't have a certain plant in your possession or you'll get locked up with a rapist and a murderer. 4) We need a smaller, less-intrusive government.
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Silversoul
Rhizome


Registered: 01/01/05
Posts: 23,576
Loc: The Barricades
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Re: A Matter of Scale [Re: Diploid]
#7722956 - 12/06/07 01:53 AM (16 years, 1 month ago) |
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How about those strings from string theory? I heard that if a string were blown up to a foot, an atom would be the size of the universe.
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maggotz


Registered: 06/24/06
Posts: 7,539
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Re: A Matter of Scale [Re: Diploid]
#7725865 - 12/06/07 07:25 PM (16 years, 1 month ago) |
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freddurgan
Techgnostic



Registered: 01/11/04
Posts: 3,648
Last seen: 11 years, 8 months
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Re: A Matter of Scale [Re: Silversoul]
#7726155 - 12/06/07 08:37 PM (16 years, 1 month ago) |
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Quote:
Silversoul said: How about those strings from string theory? I heard that if a string were blown up to a foot, an atom would be the size of the universe.
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