The size of the universe

[Hampus Andersson]

This picture is done in the correct scale in terms of planets and suns.
It should give you an idea of just how little our planet is and how massive things are
We are essentially less then bacteria if you "zoom-out".

Some may have a hard time understanding the sizes but it´s ok because the human brain was never designed to understand sizes this large

In our galaxy they estimate that there are around 100.000.000.000 (100 billion) stars.
It´s a pretty interesting thing considering in our solar system we have 8 planets.
If we assume all of the other stars has 5 planets each that´s 500 billion planets.
If we assume only one of those is a planet in the "goldie-lock zone" that means in theory it should be atleast 100 billion planets in our own galaxy with the same or close to our conditions which we have on earth.

They think that there are more then 170 billion galaxies in the visible universe.
170 billion times 100 billion "earth planets" is an extraordinary amount of "earth-planets" i don´t even think my calculator can do numbers that big

And that is by counting very low on amount of planets orbiting a star ¨

In theory the Universe should be filled with life.

 

[William Levesque]

That's one hell of a star !

 

[Hampus Andersson]

Our planet is just a speck compared to our sun which is just a speck compared to the biggest known star
Makes it hard to justify that we humans is "special" in any way or that some higher force has created this place just for us.

I wonder if the human race will solve this puzzle..
And then you have questions like "What is outside of the visible universe?"

I like to think about these things everyday but i´ve noticed that many people just focuses on their daily life here on earth (probably the best way)
Everyone is so busy with their blogging, their work, the world has problems of it´s own that very rarely do people stop and wonder why this place exists or what the mechanics behind all of this are working.

It´s very easy to say the name God as it takes care of all these issues but for me i find that a bit of a disappointment.
Especially religions where it´s already mapped out how everything started, why it started and what will happen later on.

I just can´t believe that, that is the story of the universe of life in general.
I presume it gives sort of a comfort though.

I just wish i learned more about this in school because to me it´s like Sci-fi yet it´s reality, it´s all really there!
It´s absolutely mind boggling to think that we are more or less bacteria on a piece of dust floating in space in this vast area we call space

 

[Hampus Andersson]

This should put everything in perspective more then anything else.

What you see here is our home... It´s hit by a beam of light that traveled from the Sun itself.

To quote Carl Sagan, a mastermind:

"Look again at that dot. That´s here. That´s home. That´s us.
On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives.
The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies and economic doctrines,
every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar",
every "supreme leader",every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there.
- On a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam."

Carl Sagan, 1934-1996

 

[Senad Subasic]

I was in the middle of a pop-sci book relating to the possibility of alien life a few weeks ago. It outlined the physical prerequisites for the development of life; a decent number of plain physical factors essential for development of (intelligent) life (star properties, orbits, neighbouring planets, the moon, ...). We're quite a special case still.
But, yeah, given the huge number of planets out there, I'm brushing up on my Klingon as we speak

 

[Hampus Andersson]

Yea if we just look from a human point of view it´s easy to say there´s almost no life in Space but when you consider that the biggest task humans have done is going to the moon then you realize that we are cavemen still
We can´t even travel to our nearest planet

We can´t even see other planets, we can just go by the star and how it reacts and find out that way if there are planets around the star.
Then make mathematical calculations based on where that planet is in relation to the star.

Cavemen as i said When was the last time we even visited the moon? 40-50 years ago? That´s insane.

 

[Senad Subasic]

Yea if we just look from a human point of view it´s easy to say there´s almost no life in Space but when you consider that the biggest task humans have done is going to the moon then you realize that we are cavemen still
We can´t even travel to our nearest planet

Yeah, I remember seeing a video of a shuttle launch as viewed from a plane. It looked so tiny and slow and depressing, 'is that the best we can do?' moment.

Cavemen as i said When was the last time we even visited the moon? 40-50 years ago? That´s insane.

Well, yeah, no funds, but also no huge reason to go up there anyway.

 

[Hampus Andersson]

Sure not a reason to travel to the moon but surely the next objective for humanity would be to visit Mars.
And then after that we should go to another planet like Gliese 581c.
It´s "only" 20 lightyears from the earth and it´s believed to have an atmosphere, water and temperatures close to what we have.

 

[Senad Subasic]

Generation ships with ion propulsion, I'd sign up

 

[Omer Said]

First we should build Mass Relays

All those Stars are there for us! Wow we are special for someone indeed

 

[Hampus Andersson]

"All those stars" are already probably taken with civilizations with a few thousand years knowledge ahead of us.

Just think about it, our technology as we know it has been around for only around 200 years.... That´s nothing in comparison to how long the universe has been around

I´d like to present this video as well, i´ts magnificent in my opinion..

we are all 13.7 billion years old.

An image that is super high rez of the earth.
http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/618486main_earth_full.jpg

modedit: disabled picture embed due to ridiculous size

 

[Adrian Britton]

(µS/m)Ff<µFn(H2O)=eV/c2=E)
(µS/m)Of<µFn(H2O)=eV/c2=E)

 

[Hampus Andersson]

(µS/m)Ff<µFn(H2O)=eV/c2=E)
(µS/m)Of<µFn(H2O)=eV/c2=E)

?

 

[Chris Jenkins]

I wonder what will happen when VY Canis Majoris finally goes pop!

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

We should give Sheldon Cooper Phd all the resources he needs and I am sure he will take humanity beyond the moon soon!

 

[Dan Smith]

This thread reminded me of this:

 

[Hampus Andersson]

I wonder what will happen when VY Canis Majoris finally goes pop!

haha this is just ridiculous!! I can´t wrap my brain around the size of that thing Scary thing is that there are probably stars that would make the Canis Majoris look like a dot!

Just imagine how far away a planet could be from this star and still have earth like temperatures.

 

[Lars Brugman]

Majoris that's for sure

 

[Omer Said]

There is also an system as huge as the universe in our bodies... Perhaps there might be living species like humans in our cells?

 

[Hampus Andersson]

There is also an system as huge as the universe in our bodies...

What?