I feel small !

[frayne]

 

[Brdofpray]

So why worry?

 

[Major Tom]

When I saw the title of this thread, the first thing I thought about was Steve Martin.

 

[Free To Canoe]

Awesome!

 

[bbbamI]

When I saw the title of this thread, the first thing I thought about was Steve Martin.

I thought of Alice...

Outstanding post frayne!

 

[Nemo2]

I thought of Alice...

"One of These Days, Alice…Pow!..straight to the Moon"?

 

[JOHNNIE36]

Love the thread! Years ago I was interested in space and what was out there. Last I heard Begelguese was the largest body in space. I'm shocked at what else is out there. I'm going to check further about these other bodies.

 

[Sarah in SC]

Wow that is a really cool graphic, frayne! Thanks very much for sharing! I, too, feel smaller all of a sudden.

 

[MBAustin]

Very cool graphic - it does put things in perspective. Thanks for sharing!

 

[Texas Proud]

Heck, I never saw you in the picture!!!

 

[EvrClrx311]

This probably doesn't do it justice, since most can't even comprehend the vastness of space even within our own solar system... but if Canis Majoris (the largest start in that animation) replaced our sun, then its mass would exceed the orbit of Saturn.

It's so large that if you tried to fly around it in a commercial airplane (500MPH)... it would take you about 4 million days to complete the trip (something that only takes roughly 1 day here on earth)

 

[RetirementColdHardTruth]

So why worry about what the stock market is doing. We humans are pretty insignificant on the grand scheme of things. All our worries, arguments, deadlines, commitments and planning mean nothing over generations. Let alone over the Universe. Finally now I can see why those that live in now and don't plan for the future are coming from.

 

[EvrClrx311]

So why worry about what the stock market is doing. We humans are pretty insignificant on the grand scheme of things. All our worries, arguments, deadlines, commitments and planning mean nothing over generations. Let alone over the Universe. Finally now I can see why those that live in now and don't plan for the future are coming from.

... everything about humanity is in the now, always has been that way. We can't even begin to think or care what our society will be like in the future... we look back 200 years and think "those poor people, farming, building and dying young with no retirement." Average life was 30-35 years, although those making it to 21 could hope to reach 50.

I'm sure 200 years from now, people will look back at us and say... "those poor people, investing their money, w*rking and then retiring. What a tough life. What a waste of life."

...good chance by then w*rk and why it was necessary will be something studied by historians. They'll say... "why w*rk when machines can take care of every possible thing for us... we live our entire lives in what they called retirement." On its current trend, its pretty fair to assume computers will be more intelligent than us by mid century... once a machine is able to make decisions for us better than we can ourselves... what is that going to do to humanity?

Sounds like science fiction, or magic today, horrifying even... but so too did computers, television, automobiles and flying machines to those living 200 years ago.

 

[harley]

So why worry about what the stock market is doing. We humans are pretty insignificant on the grand scheme of things. All our worries, arguments, deadlines, commitments and planning mean nothing over generations. Let alone over the Universe. Finally now I can see why those that live in now and don't plan for the future are coming from.

Because despite the majesty and immensity depicted in the really cool animation frayne posted, I (and my financial situation) am still the most important thing in the universe from where I'm standing.

 

[Nemo2]

(something that only takes roughly 1 day here on earth)

At ~24,900 miles, it'd take around 49.8 hours @500 MPH, (without refueling stops ).

 

[EvrClrx311]

At ~24,900 miles, it'd take around 49.8 hours @500 MPH, (without refueling stops ).

oh yeah, thanks for the correction... I was only thinking one direction on that flight to Japan that was about 20 hours.

 

[Telly]

Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune have bad gas. Uranus, I could understand...

But on a serious note, I wonder how far down the periodic table the largest star is fusing together elements.

 

[EvrClrx311]

Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune have bad gas. Uranus, I could understand...

But on a serious note, I wonder how far down the periodic table the largest star is fusing together elements.

I tried to come up with a funny chemistry joke... but found that all of them Argon

 

[Telly]

I tried to come up with a funny chemistry joke... but found that all of them Argon

That's good!

I don't think I can top that, not without digging up a Periodic Table and thinking about it.

 

[EvrClrx311]

What did the chemist do with his dead cat? "Barium, of course"

What did the physicist do with his dead cat? "Dammit, you looked in the box?"

 

[MichaelB]

All right you guys, knock off the jokes. This is a serious thread.
Speaking of which, never miss an opportunity for a Python reference.

Galaxy Song by Eric Idle - YouTube

 

[NW-Bound]

Very cool! Thanks to the OP for sharing.

But, but, but, I remember reading somewhere that there is a limit as to how big a star can be. So, how could that largest star known to men, VY Canis Majoris, be so large compared to our Sun?

A quick look on Wikipedia revealed the following. That is, VY Canis Majoris is a red giant, a star on its last death gasp. It has the mass of 30 to 40 Suns, but has exploded to a size where its density is so low that

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. Since the star does not have a uniform density—as it must have a fusing core—the actual density of the outer "surface" at the radius and mass stated (mass ÷ volume, where the volume of a sphere is 4/3 * pi * r3) is far less dense than even the outer atmosphere of the Earth.​

Still, here is something impressive about a smaller star, Rigel, that has the mass of 24 Suns, but with the radius 71X that of our Sun (for an average density of 1/15000 that of the Sun). It is so bright that if we were at the same distance from it as we are from the Sun, the power flux would be 71,000 times that of the Sun. It would be 100MW per square meter, instead of a mere 1.4kW!

 

[TromboneAl]

I tried to come up with a funny chemistry joke... but found that all of them Argon

I wish I had a Nickel for every time I've heard that joke.

 

[harley]

I thought I remembered a joke about Sodium, but Na.

 

[JPatrick]

Yup, good old Uranus. I still remember laughing my butt off everytime someone said that in seventh grade science class. Especially if it was a girl.

Hey I wasn't the only one..Really, all the guys laughed. Honest.