The universe is a very big place | Hacker News Reader

The universe is a very big place

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90 pointserikstarck23 comments

"Space is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist's, but that's just peanuts to space." --Douglas Adams

Not to nit-pick but I believe it's "I mean you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist, but that's just peanuts to space". "Drug store" is a decidedly American phrase.

When books get released in other countries they go through and change many of these locale specific things, at least they do when it's going UK -> US, I think it's less common the other way because we're already so exposed to their culture.

You are right; fixed it. Thanks!

In fact I think you will find that the universe covers pretty much everything; http://getonmyhorse.com

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

Here's another visualization. It overlays the objects on a grid, which explicitly sets the sense of scale.

http://www.nikon.com/about/feelnikon/universcale/index_f.htm

A pretty mind boggling video on the same theme: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17jymDn0W6U

It's interesting to me how dramatic music always tends to accompany this subject. Whether you prefer the religious or secular variety, I think it's safe to say there's something universally spiritual about visualizing the universe.

A thought which pretty much begs a link to Symphony of Science: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGK84Poeynk

That's pretty cool. It reminds me of an old movie about orders of magnitude and scale that just went through factors of 10 in constant time from a person out to the observable universe.

It's weird how there are vast scales where there's nothing.

You mean Charles and Ray Eames' "Powers of 10":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Z53wTtGGA0

That's the one.

I would imagine vast scales of nothing are 'easier' (in the cosmis sense) to accomplish and maintain.

Humongulous amounts of something leads to complications.

Direct link: http://uploads.ungrounded.net/525000/525347_scale_of_univers...

This managed to nail all the BS pseudo physics that drives physicists crazy to hear repeated.

Please set them straight! :-)

"Powers of 10" sliders like this are kinda fun. This is easily one of the better ones I've seen (though it's really a "Powers of 1000").

Just wish it had a smoother way to zoom, the slider is a bit jumpy when it's small.

Try the arrow keys.

* smack * duh. Should've read the author's comments, eh? My mistake. I was assuming the circles on the end would perform the same action, but guess not.

Thanks for pointing it out ^^;

Also good: Carl Sagan's Pale Blue Dot http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p86BPM1GV8M&feature=fvw

I'd love to show this to some narcissists I know. But then again, they might think it is revolving around them rather than humbling.

TL;DR: The universe is 930 Ym across.

Just wow.

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