Super User Redlinerobert Posted February 20, 2014 Super User Posted February 20, 2014 Prepare to feel even smaller. http://www.policymic.com/articles/81873/experience-just-how-big-the-universe-is-in-one-mind-blowing-interactive 2 Quote
Super User Raider Nation Fisher Posted February 20, 2014 Super User Posted February 20, 2014 Thanks a lot buddy. Now my freaking head is spinning trying to comprehend what I just read. I can somewhat understand and appreciate the theory behind it. Still, its a lot to take in. Quote
Super User Grizzn N Bassin Posted February 20, 2014 Super User Posted February 20, 2014 haha that's awesome. i understand what there saying solely due to college taking all kinds of classes in astronomy and quantum mechanics just for a fun minor in my degree. this stuff defiantly makes you think all kinds of crazy! Quote
Super User Bankbeater Posted February 20, 2014 Super User Posted February 20, 2014 Pretty cool. Quote
Super User Root beer Posted February 20, 2014 Super User Posted February 20, 2014 Can you imagine some dude having reading that while on psychedelic drugs? Talk about a psychedelic freak out. 1 Quote
ClackerBuzz Posted February 20, 2014 Posted February 20, 2014 dangggggg! good thing the Enterprise has warp drive 2 Quote
Super User Teal Posted February 20, 2014 Super User Posted February 20, 2014 Thanks a lot buddy. Now my freaking head is spinning trying to comprehend what I just read. I can somewhat understand and appreciate the theory behind it. Still, its a lot to take in. Too many three syllable words? Jk, I got confused a couple times and had to go back and start over. Lol. Quote
shootermcbob Posted February 21, 2014 Posted February 21, 2014 I don't feel insignificant at all. I am, after all the SUPREME RULER OF Abell2744 Y1 ! Really, I am. Quote
Super User Darren. Posted February 21, 2014 Super User Posted February 21, 2014 Love this stuff. But it is not complete unless narrated by Morgan Freeman. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxXf7AJZ73A 2 Quote
Super User Grizzn N Bassin Posted February 21, 2014 Super User Posted February 21, 2014 Love this stuff. But it is not complete unless narrated by Morgan Freeman. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxXf7AJZ73A hes the man 1 Quote
Super User Long Mike Posted February 21, 2014 Super User Posted February 21, 2014 Having been to a rodeo, two goat-roppings, a rattle-snake round-up, and a cat-fish sniggling tournament, it doesn't take an astronomer to tell me how insignificant I am. Just a bug on the windshield of life. 2 Quote
Super User K_Mac Posted February 21, 2014 Super User Posted February 21, 2014 It is not only size that is mind-boggling. Add speed and things really get interesting. We are spinning at about 1000 mph while orbiting the Sun at about 67000 mph, which is rocketing around the Galaxy, which is rocketing around the Universe...makes me dizzy just thinking about it. Quote
Super User Ratherbfishing Posted February 21, 2014 Super User Posted February 21, 2014 i dunno. Compared to a quark, I am (we are) giant. Quote
Pz3 Posted February 23, 2014 Posted February 23, 2014 I love this stuff. I watch documentaries on space science all the time. Accurate scale models of the solar system will freak most people out as well. Quote
Super User RoLo Posted February 26, 2014 Super User Posted February 26, 2014 It is not only size that is mind-boggling. Add speed and things really get interesting. We are spinning at about 1000 mph while orbiting the Sun at about 67000 mph, which is rocketing around the Galaxy, which is rocketing around the Universe...makes me dizzy just thinking about it. As K-Mac pointed out, we're moving in several directions at once while fast asleep. The rotation of the earth (day), earth revolution (year), solar system orbit, galactic circuit & the cosmos through space. When we take one step, we're moving in at least 6 directions at once. As a kid I was big on astronomy (when Palomar was an observatory, not a knot). The last slide in that zoom-out series reignited my most bewildering question. You'll notice that the "universe" in the last image never ends, but extends to all sides of the image border. So what does the end look like? How can the universe possibly end? How can the universe NOT end? Let's pretend the outer limits of the universe was a mile-wide rock wall. Fine, but what lies on the other side of that wall, and what lies beyond that, etc, etc, etc. Dad was little help, and told me that the answer is beyond man's comprehension, I'm afraid he was right Roger Quote
Super User Fishing Rhino Posted February 26, 2014 Super User Posted February 26, 2014 Insignificant? Hardly. In spite of its gynormous size, the nearly infinite universe knows less about finite me than I know about it. The size of the universe may seem humbling, but it pales in comparison to the marvel of life. Or, to put it in a better perspective, Psalm 8:3-5 "When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour." 5 Quote
Super User Redlinerobert Posted February 26, 2014 Author Super User Posted February 26, 2014 Amen! Quote
Super User RoLo Posted February 27, 2014 Super User Posted February 27, 2014 In spite of its gynormous size, the nearly infinite universe knows less about finite me than I know about it. The size of the universe may seem humbling, but it pales in comparison to the marvel of life. The universe isn't a byproduct of man, but man and the marvels of life are byproducts of the universe. The universe doesn't owe man any explanation or even recognition, where it's mankind has the burden of knowledge. One thing is unarguable, the universe preceded man and the universe shall succeed man (all planets & stars ultimately die). It's unlikely that man's absence will even be noticed by the universe. This brings me full circle to the same unanswered questions: > What is the shape of the entire universe? > What do we call the space that lies outside the universe? > What's does something that extends without bounds look like? (what's the universe sitting in? - what's outside of nothing?) Roger 1 Quote
Super User K_Mac Posted February 27, 2014 Super User Posted February 27, 2014 Roger this can quickly spin into forbidden territory. I do not believe that man is a byproduct of the universe any more than I believe the universe is somehow a byproduct of something else. I too have many questions. The notion that human life in all its wonders and complexities, or the known universe came into existence by the vagaries of an explosive release of unexplained energy and unknown matter makes the alternative offered in Rhino's quote far more reasonable IMO. I do accept that intelligent men can disagree on such matters though. Quote
Super User RoLo Posted February 27, 2014 Super User Posted February 27, 2014 Roger this can quickly spin into forbidden territory. I do not believe that man is a byproduct of the universe any more than I believe the universe is somehow a byproduct of something else. I too have many questions. The notion that human life in all its wonders and complexities, or the known universe came into existence by the vagaries of an explosive release of unexplained energy and unknown matter makes the alternative offered in Rhino's quote far more reasonable IMO. I do accept that intelligent men can disagree on such matters though. I've always had a keen interest in the sciences, and was quite young when I learned of man's relative insignificance in the cosmos, but this gave me a sense of power rather than a feeling of insignificance (knowledge is power). I entered this thread with what I believed were thought-provoking questions regarding the size & shape of infinity. Quite frankly, I don't even know what disagreement you're alluding to, but I do know the covenants in this forum. You may have the last word Roger Quote
Super User Redlinerobert Posted February 27, 2014 Author Super User Posted February 27, 2014 This explains it completely. 1 Quote
Super User K_Mac Posted February 27, 2014 Super User Posted February 27, 2014 I like the questions Roger! Redline that certainly is one answer. Quote
Super User Fishing Rhino Posted February 27, 2014 Super User Posted February 27, 2014 Without treading into forbidden territory I'll enter my thoughts in a different way. The universe cannot reason. The universe cannot make choices. The universe cannot change direction The universe cannot learn The universe is devoid of logic and understanding The universe has never created a single thing to improve or damage its existence The course of the universe is "set in stone" The universe cannot adapt etc. In spite of being puny, we have powers the universe does not. 1 Quote
Super User A-Jay Posted February 27, 2014 Super User Posted February 27, 2014 Without treading into forbidden territory I'll enter my thoughts in a different way. The universe cannot reason. The universe cannot make choices. The universe cannot change direction The universe cannot learn The universe is devoid of logic and understanding The universe has never created a single thing to improve or damage its existence The course of the universe is "set in stone" The universe cannot adapt etc. In spite of being puny, we have powers the universe does not. The way I see it, it doesn't need to. A-Jay 1 Quote
Super User Fishing Rhino Posted February 27, 2014 Super User Posted February 27, 2014 The way I see it, it doesn't need to. A-Jay You are correct. And that's the point. I'll ask one more question. Given the choice between being yourself, or being the universe, which would you choose? Quote
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