What a ridiculously lovely way to begin a Saturday.
Martinsays
Wow! I actually had to stop watching that after a certain point! It’s literally like the Total Perspective Vortex in Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, except my reaction was (to mix my cultural references) a lot less like Zaphod’s and more like Bloom County’s Oliver Wendell Jones. The immensity of the universe is so staggering to contemplate I just want a cookie.
Cowcakessays
Beautiful. Why do poeple need to make things up when reality has such an aweinspiring vista.
Feynmaniacsays
And thinking it was all made so we can exist is in no way arrogant or narcissistic.
(Here is xkcd’s not as visually stunning, but funnier, showing of the observable universe)
Sorry, a man walking on water is much more impressive. Especially since he believed that demons caused disease.
Tronzusays
I can see how someone could see god in all of this, it is a true majestic mystery after all…
DBsays
It was the realization of the immense scope of the universe that first lead me from theism to deism to atheism.
It is unbelievable to me that anyone can contemplate the universe for even a minute and still cling to any form of theism. their are over a hundred billion stars in our galaxy alone and millions upon millions of galaxies more, countless planets spanning an expanse so large it is simply beyond the realm of human comprehension. To look at that and be able to think it exists merely as a pretty backdrop for us while we sort out the important stuff like what you can eat, who you can have sex with and whether or not women should wear hats, To think that it is the petty minutiae of our day to day lives that is whats of grand cosmic, eternal significance takes a level of arrogance I cannot begin to understand.
reyno_buxworthsays
Anyone feel slightly smaller after that?
Sven DiMilosays
it sucks when PZ uses the best comment as the post title
RamblinDudesays
One little criticism — I would have liked for it be more obvious that the vast cloud of glowing “dust” that the viewer was traveling through when zooming in and out of the Milky Way is actually a vast number of stars. It almost made that clear, but not quite.
Otherwise, beautifully done.
aratina cagesays
Incredible visualization! Now I too have seen everything there was. I really liked how the camera spun around to show Orion’s Belt (which I see in the sky most nights and use to find my favorite constellations) when the full Earth came into view.
How likely would it be to find something like this playing at religious gatherings (without a god edited in somewhere)? The known universe is beautiful yes, but it was and is completely inhospitable for the most part. How do sheeple explain even the smallest slice of it such as the existence of the other planets in our solar system?
Dustsays
Wow! That made me think of one of my favorite quotes:
“we are pilgrims together, wending our way through an unknown country…home” Fra Giovanni
Thanks for sharing that PZ!
Dave Dellsays
“Consider the true picture. Think of myriads of tiny bubbles, very sparsely scattered, rising through a vast black sea. We rule some of the bubbles. Of the waters we know nothing…”
From “The Mote in God’s Eye” by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle.
Richard Eissays
What about one that goes the other way now. I want to feel big again…
Feynmaniacsays
What about one that goes the other way now. I want to feel big again…
Tis just reality and nothing more that comes a tap tap tapping at our cosmic door!
Jndalasays
Lovely, what a great thing to wake up to on a Saturday morning! My only complaint, of course, is the lack of resolution when we get past the planets in our solar system. Why don’t we have starships that travel at relativistic speeds yet?
JNsays
WOW!
On a happy side note, I have just watched the video on YouTube and was very excited to see that, although comments in YouTube are known for being among the worse on the net, all attempts to credit these wonders to deities have been categorically repelled. These folks are the future and it just seems a little brighter this morning :)
UXOsays
Actually, to be pedantic, it’s the entire known universe in 3.5 minutes – the remainder’s the trip home. Making good time, one might say! :)
UXOsays
I would have liked for it be more obvious that the vast cloud of glowing “dust” that the viewer was traveling through when zooming in and out of the Milky Way is actually a vast number of stars.
@RamblinDude – I agree. I actually thought while watching it, “Wonder how many folks realize that ‘dust’ is actually STARS?”. Freaks me the hell out!
'Tis Himself, OMsays
I am impressed.
negentropyeatersays
But how does this fit in with The Electric Universe?
It doesn’t. If Plasma Cosmology is correct, no big bang, the CMBR isn’t its afterglow, age of universe isn’t 13.7 billion but timeless, Quasars aren’t the farthest objects we can see, etc…
Rey Foxsays
“I can see how someone could see god in all of this, it is a true majestic mystery after all…”
I’m not sure how. To me, it just underlines how small the god concept really is, at least in the morality play of Christianity.
bcoppolasays
Reminds me of how as a kid you’d sign your name in yearbooks and such as “[name], [city], [state], [country], Earth, Solar System, Milky Way, the Universe”.
Evil Eyesays
The only thing that is misleading is that the universe is a spheroid. There is no center to the universe and no outer edge. This spheroid they show is of the “known”, or observable universe. What we can look at so far. The universe is not a 3 dimensional bubble. Everywhere is both the center AND the edge.
We haven’t seen the entire universe yet. Just that much.
Think of it this way…
Where is the center of you? Not geometrically, but where is your beginning?
Evil Eyesays
Clarification…
In my above statement, I meant that in the video, the universe was represented as a spheroid.
It is not.
It is flat in 4 dimensions. 2 parallel lights traveling great distances stay parallel.
Psychodiggersays
Fucking amazing. I thought it was going to be a bit of a boring clip, until I realised the six minutes were already over, and I wachted it a gain! Indeed a ridiculously end way to end (in my case) a saturday.
@ #10 Well said!
Creature of the Universesays
I really like it!
It reminds me of my trip to Mrs. Perry’s place….Thanks!
Sclerophanaxsays
I absolutely loved how they showed you the actual scale of the solar system. I’m so sick of how just about every bit of CGI showing the planets where you move away from the Earth and through the solar system, past the other planetary bodies, which apparently is supposed to show us something informative completely fucks up the distances: Mars is usually about as far away from the Earth as the moon should be, Jupiter only twice as far and Saturn just next to it.
We are incredibly far from anything else, even the nearest rocky planet. Staring at the place we are shown Earth should be and waiting and waiting for it to appear while moving towards it at an immense speed really helps drive the point home. Earth is a tiny little speck in a vast emptyness. And there are no nearby islands in this sea of nothing. If everybody realized this, maybe we wouldn’t be so careless about squandering the Earth’s very limited resources.
I’m not sure how. To me, it just underlines how small the god concept really is, at least in the morality play of Christianity.
Yes, really. Here’s this really, really, really big place, the entirety of which god is supposed to hold domain over, and you want to tell me he cares the least little bit that some microscopic nit on a microscopic dot near a microscopic point of light gajillions of miles out there somwhere is thinking about his neighbors wife?
Sven DiMilosays
Isn’t there something that can be done for these poor people who are signing in with a goooogle account?
It’s a damn eyesore!
Somnolent Aphidsays
a bit fuzzy on the details, what?
Diannesays
Seems to me that the video spent an awful lot of time on one insignificant little planet, but other than that it was quite good.
bcoppolasays
Martin #2:
The immensity of the universe is so staggering to contemplate I just want a cookie.
Word. I find that a cookie is a fine palliative for many of life’s conundrums and travails. And I don’t even have blue fur.
David Marjanovićsays
(Here is xkcd’s not as visually stunning, but funnier, showing of the observable universe)
What’s up with the 46 billion light-years on top? There’s no such thing as 46 billion light-years. Or what have I overlooked?
xkcd again.
“iPod femto” :-D :-D :-D
What’s Brian Greene knitting? Gluons? Glueballs even?
hyoidsays
When the camera gets way out there like that, I always want it to turn around and look the other way.
Pareidoliussays
The universe is not a 3 dimensional bubble. Everywhere is both the center AND the edge.
This is a great analogy for how this makes me feel, which is so infinitely small and so very, very special* at the same time. I feel at once related to everything that ever was and will be, and utterly alone. Amazing. Accepting reality has bred in me more wonder, more gratitude and more humility than any metaphysics that briefly held my attention in my magical-thinking past. To quote Anatole France . . .
The wonder is, not that the field of the stars is so vast, but that man has measured it.
*The gist of what I mean by “special” is summed up by the Anatole France quote.
Drakensays
I wa reminded of Powers of ten. Hope they do a ‘remake’ of the way into microscopic world too.
evendensays
Nice shot of the macro but on the return trip it should have proceded to the micro—the quantum “froth” as I recall. Alas, only half the story.
wisnijsays
In my above statement, I meant that in the video, the universe was represented as a spheroid.
No, it wasn’t. The video very clearly said “our cosmic horizon”. That’s just the farthest extent we can see given the age of the universe and the speed of light. If the universe’s expansion is isotropic, the horizon will necessarily be a sphere.
Conversational Atheistsays
Re: #39
1. Light from the CMB is 13.7 billion light years old. But you have to integrate over the expansion of the universe to get the distance to the CMB — 46 billion light years is about right.
In a crude analogy, think of calculating where a supersonic plane would be after you heard the sonic boom.
2. Brian Greene is definitely knitting strings (he’s a string theory proponent).
Feynmaniacsays
What’s up with the 46 billion light-years on top? There’s no such thing as 46 billion light-years. Or what have I overlooked?
That’s the physical distance of the observable universe i.e, the distance to the furthest objects which we can see (distance from they are now, not when the light was emitted). If space wasn’t expanding that would simply be speed of light x age of the universe (i.e, cto) . However, since space is expanding it’s c∫0to dt’/a(t’), where a(t’) is the scale factor, which changes with time. Apparently if you work it out it comes to ~46 billion light years.
Chlorophyllsays
I’m really confused. Doesn’t Earth rotate West to East? Did they animate the Earth rotating East to West, were they just panning the camera around Earth, or am I seeing this wrong?
Brian Englishsays
Nice imagination evilutionists. Tell me, if evolution is true, how do you explain how evolution created the universe and life? It can’t. More fairy tales.
I. Am Poe.
Chlorophyllsays
@ #48
Well that’s an easy one! We don’t claim evolution created the universe and life! You are confusing evolution with abiogenesis and the “Big Bang”. Now creationism, there’s a fairy tale.
creating tronssays
Evil Eye: I’m trying to get this. when I watched it the first thing that came to me was that it appeared that the earth was the center of the universe. but we are just the center of our known cosmic horizon, correct? if the universe is expanding, and I believe it is, wouldn’t we be closer to one edge than the other? is there an edge?
CanonicalKoisays
I would’ve loved a fly-by of the moon and any planets as the “camera” drew back, but beautiful! I look at that with a sense of wonder and amazement. What do YECs see? Do they see anything or just close their eyes?
anotherplayaguysays
But, but, but … How can this begin and end in Europe? Everyone knows that the center of the Universe is the U.S. You cannot have a UniverSe without a U and an S.
vanharrissays
Chlorophyll, #48 admits to being a Poe. His question is really stupid, but apparently it’s a Poe. Why, i wonder? What’s the point?
Coldwellsays
How awful to think I’m stuck here on this rock with you people.
Brian Englishsays
#53. Point? You need a point? The first thing that popped into my head after watching the clip, then reading comments like “the universe is so vast, religion comphrehends so little” was that a creobot would respond with a non-sequitur like the one above. The old “If you can’t explain this, then my biblical fairy-tale wins by default” fallacy….
Anyway, sorry for interrupting.
Evil Eyesays
“Evil Eye: I’m trying to get this. when I watched it the first thing that came to me was that it appeared that the earth was the center of the universe. but we are just the center of our known cosmic horizon, correct? if the universe is expanding, and I believe it is, wouldn’t we be closer to one edge than the other? is there an edge?”
Saying that we are at the center of our own cosmic horizon is perfectly acceptable.
No matter where you are in the universe, your horizon will be different than anywhere else.
Our perspective from Earth can look in any direction and look back toward the beginning of time. But someone far out of our distance of visible light will also have their own bubble. Still the same universe, but that’s as far as they can see. We cannot look beyond the time it took the first light to reach us. That doesn’t mean there is nothing farther. (further?) It just means that right now… all we can see is back to the moments that light was created.
Here… let me analogize it for you.
You look to the west. There is a horizon. Is that the edge of the Earth? No.
It is simply as far as you can see.
The universe is a HUGE place and in every direction you are looking back in time.
Imagine the surface of a bubble being 3d instead of 2d. There is no inside or outside of the bubble. Only the surface in 3 directions.
Everything on that surface is the center or no center at all.
Where is the center of the surface of a basketball?
negentropyeatersays
Cresting trons :
we’re at the center of the observable universe (by definition).
But the entire universe has no center, nor edge.
Think of it this way :
first, picture a 2-sphere, ie the surface of a ball, a 2 dimensional manifold in 3D space : it has no center nor edge, right ?
now, (try to) picture a 3-sphere, ie a 3 dimensional manifold in 4D space. Same thing, no center, no edge.
The fact that the universe expands doesn’t change the picture : think again of the 2 sphere and imagine the ball is expanding. Still no center nor edge.
Same for the 3 dimensional manifold in 4D space which is the Universe.
negentropyeatersays
Evil Eye beat me to it by one minute…
that’s the problem with blogs. When you are typing a response, you never know if someone else is typing a similar response at the same time.
Richard Eissays
How awful to think I’m stuck here on this rock with you people.
We are working on that on the other thread (botom line)…hows your chemistry?
creating tronssays
thanx, both of you. that makes more sense to me. is it safe to assume that light is traveling faster than the expansion, so that one day we may see the edge of expansion in real time?
I live in the smokie mountains and have 3 telescopes. the night view there is awesome.
I tried reading A Brief History of Time twice and couldn’t finish the book. this shit is so far over my head, but I’m not giving up. a clear night, a glass of whiskey, and a telescope. my perfect evening. unless its cold. then we’ll start a fire. maybe add some bacon.
K R Helouinsays
Evil Eye, whoever you are, thanks for helping me understand our place in space. I’ve tried to comprehend the vastness of our universe and get bogged down a few light years beyond the Milky Way. Somehow, your post (#56) helped. A small “aha” moment. Thanks, and you have a fan!
David Utidjiansays
Reminds me of the “Powers of Ten” video by Eames… hmmm. Yep, youtube has it also:
-DU-
SaintStephensays
Very beautiful, PZ. Thanks for sharing it.
Schpwuettesays
negentropyeater, #57
That’s how I always thought of it, but recently I’ve seen talks saying that the universe is ‘flat’ (and therefore has no net energy).
Can you clarify how the universe can be a 3-sphere (or at least have no edge/centre) and flat at the same time?
I’m guessing when they say flat they mean something different to I’m thinking of…
chelonian23says
Incredibly, this entire video was done by a single individual using an the World Book encyclopedia, Microsoft Paint, and a 1988 JVC camcorder.
Bravo!
Sven DiMilosays
How can this begin and end in Europe?
? The Tibetan Himalayas are in Europe?
creating tronssays
#66 Sven D: I wondered this myself, but let it go.
Brian Englishsays
#67 Perhaps Eurasia?
Douglas Wattssays
As a sceptic, I reserve judgment until all of the raw data files are produced.
Douglas Wattssays
when I watched it the first thing that came to me was that it appeared that the earth was the center of the universe.
— head desk —
— head desk —
— head desk —
— head desk —
creating tronssays
where’s the line? I always wondered how India could be called asian when they don’t look like my precon of asian? is this a cross of asian and middle eastern?
I work in the states with some degreed indians and sometimes its frustrating when the indians won’t disagree with a ranking peer because (I’ve been advised) he’s a higher caste ranking. its like bullshit. you know the answer is wrong but you can’t call him on it. of course we do, but then the consensuss (spell?) is split.
Hampussays
Sometimes I think I can sort of understand why some people want to believe in a god. Videos like this leave me wondering why on earth (and all the rest) anyone would want to cheapen the majesty of the universe by pasting a petty, childish wizard onto it.
creating tronssays
#70 Doug: I’m sorry you hurt your forehead, but that is how the video ends. the middle starts at the horizon and drives towards the center and we find that this center is earth.
maybe you should put a pillow on your desk…
Moggiesays
Knowledge, with humility and a sense of awe. Who needs religion, when science does the job so much better? Thank goodness some people are looking outwards, rather than arguing about what you can do with your penis or what you’re allowed to wear.
IanKorosays
Wow… that gave me a sciencegasm.
creating tronssays
#75 me too, can we compare?
Evil Eyesays
@ Schpwuette
The universe is flat in that parallel lines never intersect. If the universe were spheroidal, no matter how large, parallel lines would cross. Like the longitudinal lines on globe do at the poles.
Think of an ever expanding Rubik’s cube. Every cube is always parallel to the others (and in every direction) no mater how many cubes there are or how big they get.
UXOsays
@Douglas: It would be absolutely correct to say the earth is at the centre of the known universe, or at the centre of the observed universe, or at the centre of the currently observable universe, or even at the centre of our universe. I’m all for modesty, but we really are at the centre of our own universe.
In fact, one of the alternatives to inflation theory (which, let’s face it, is pretty ugly and arbitrary) is that the universe is in fact not homogenous, and that we occupy a relatively unique area. So… y’know… maybe we are special?
creating tronssays
Evil: how would parallel ever cross? at the poles the lines just meet.
negentropyeatersays
Schpwuette,
flat means that it can be described by a Euclidean geometry, ie a geometry with no spatial curvature.
The topology of the universe is more generally that of a 3-manifold. Depending on the curvature, there are different possible 3-manifolds. If the curvature is nul (flat), for example you have the 3 torus. If it is positive, you have for example the 3 sphere. If it is negative, you have the so called horn topologies.
Current measurements seem to indicate that the spatial curvature is very close to zero, which makes it very difficult to come up with a sufficiently precise figure and determine which of those 3-manifolds is the correct topology.
Comming back to the first point, none of these 3-manifolds has a center nor an edge.
I know, the whole thing is not very easy to explain. It gets easy when you’ve studied differential geometry though.
And 3-manifolds are just so damn difficult to visualize ;-) I just prefer the equations.
tsgsays
#70 Doug: I’m sorry you hurt your forehead, but that is how the video ends. the middle starts at the horizon and drives towards the center and we find that this center is earth.
Center of the visible universe. Big difference.
Conversational Atheistsays
@ # 60: “is it safe to assume that light is traveling faster than the expansion, so that one day we may see the edge of expansion in real time?”
Let’s break into two parts:
“is it safe to assume that light is traveling faster than the expansion”
No, current standard thought is: during inflation, space expanded way faster than the speed of light, and things that are ‘far enough away’ are currently receding faster than the speed of light. (This is OK by way of relativity).
Also, the CMB, the surface of last scattering, ever since about 300,000 years after the Big Bang, is the farthest ‘back’ we could see (in photons). So, when the universe was 1,000,000 years old, you could see back to the surface 300,000 years after Big Bang.
Today, 13.7 billion years post Big Bang, the farthest back we still see is 300,000 years after the Big Bang.
“so that one day we may see the edge of expansion in real time?”
No in two ways: there is no ‘edge’ of expansion. And, it appears that the expansion rate is accelerating, so eventually (REALLY long time) the Milky-Way-Dromeda will essentially be an island that can see nothing else. We wouldn’t see anything past our own galaxy — essentially the ‘far enough away’ to be receding faster than light becomes a distance ‘close’ to our galaxy.
negentropyeatersays
Think of an ever expanding Rubik’s cube. Every cube is always parallel to the others (and in every direction) no mater how many cubes there are or how big they get.
But a Rubik’s cube has definitely a center, and an edge.
No, if you want to try to visualize a flat Universe, think of the 3 dimensional equivallent of the surface of a torus.
All parrallel lines do not cross, yet no center and no edge. And a finite volume.
Mr Tsays
creating trons, #60:
is it safe to assume that light is traveling faster than the expansion, so that one day we may see the edge of expansion in real time?
No. As far as I understand it, the expansion of space is accelerating and on large enough scales it is faster than the speed of light. Much of the universe (most?) is already beyond the visible horizon. In the very distant future, everything except the closest objects will be outside the observable universe. Astronomy will be a very different kind of subject then, if there is anyone on any planet still around to do it.
Mr Tsays
Thanks, Conversational Atheist. I think you’ve explained it better than I could have done.
There is the “Big Rip” theory that the expansion of space will eventually rip apart everything at progressively smaller scales, even down to subatomic particles. I’m not sure how much I should believe that, but it’s worth noting.
creating tronssays
Yea, I should have quilified that we would not be here long enough to realise the info in person.
but lets talk about the time past our existance on this planet. will our planet survive? I guesss not. how will we continue our existance? short term is mars, but we need more than short term answers.
tim Rowledgesays
how will we continue our existance? short term is mars, but we need more than short term answers.
short to medium term – say 1000 to 10^8 years – requires as proper space program. Longer term requires a…. universe program (?) that would provide a way of moving across to a younger (or otherwise more useful) universe before this one runs down.
The dinosaurs failed at the space program. They’re gone. (Yes, I know, oversimplification. Deal with it – this is the intaht00bz)
UXOsays
Yea, I should have quilified that we would not be here long enough to realise the info in person.
@creating trons: Speak for yourself! I’m banking on Ray Kurzweil’s predictions of physical immortality, followed roughly by Asimov’s “The Last Question”!
Twopintssays
Carl Sagan would have loved this.
Evil Eyesays
Using 3d analogies to explain a 4 dimentional space is hard.
But I can explain the “expanding faster than light” question.
Nothing is moving faster than light. Space is filling in the gaps faster than light can get across it.
Think of a sidewalk with 3 sections. You start walking, but for every step you take another section (space) is added. If it takes you 2 steps to complete 1 section, soon you will find that you can not only not see the other end of the sidewalk, but you can never reach it.
Evil Eyesays
@ negentropyeater
I was talking about the parallel lines.. not the center/edge. That’s two different questions.
If the Rubik’s cube was indeed 4 dimensional, then there still would be no center or edge.
Schpwuettesays
@negentropyeater
Aha. It all makes sense now. Thanks. A torus shape hadn’t occurred to me…
negentropyeatersays
As far as I understand it, the expansion of space is accelerating and on large enough scales it is faster than the speed of light.
To be more precise, the expansion parameter or the scale factor which describes the expansion of the universe is the same everywhere in the Universe (isotropy). It varies with time.
The velocity at which a given galaxy is receding from us is equal to its distance from us times the expansion parameter. v = H(0)x D , Hubble’s law.
Because some galaxies within the observable universe are at a distance from us which is superior to c/H(0) = 13.7 LYrs (see Feynmaniac #46) those galaxies are receding from us at a speed which is superior to c.
“The expansion of space is faster than the speed of light” is meaningless.
creating tronssays
you guys are great. thanx for the education. I want more.
Mr Tsays
negentropyeater: Thanks.
Yes, apologies all around: the way I worded it is meaningless. As a non-physicist, it’s rather hard to understand, much less explain it.
After the resurrection and baby magic man ascended, how far “up” did he go? And is he still going…
Jacksays
Lovely, but it doesn’t even begin to give a real sense of the scale. The pan-out accelerated outrageously yet gave the impression of being at more-or-less the same rate. Necessary, of course – we’d all be long dead before it finished, otherwise.
Thomassays
“big bang” Really? I didn’t think anyone believed this anymore? hmm…
Evil Eyesays
@ Thomas
“Big Bang” is somewhat of a misnomer.
It should have been called the “Big Expansion.
There was no “bang”. Just a sudden inflation of energy from a zero-point to everything that is now.
There is more to it than that, but much more than need be explained on a biological/atheist blog comment section.
Evil Eyesays
I just thought of a biological equivalent ….
The Cambrian “Explosion” was not an instant in time. It was only short in the scale of the entire measurement of geologic time.
The “Big Bang” was the initial point at which energy became loose, then spread out…. about the size of a grapefruit in 100,000 years, then began to interact by gravity, and then… and then… and then…. etc…. until light…. then matter… then the universe as we know it.
now I’m like a gazillion years old via twin paradox, thanks alot
creating tronssays
Evil Eye thanx for the link. that’ll keep me busy for a few…years. a few years ago when I first used a telescope, I thought I was looking at Venus except there were 4 little lights, 2 on each side. I thought there was something wrong with my lens, and I cleaned them but the lights were still there. 2 days (nights) later I realised it was Jupiter. I was blown away. I have since bought another scope and a pair of planetary binoculars. I love this shit.
Dust that link is great. how do they do that? is it a real picture? do all satellites have cameras? wow.
creating tronssays
Dust: this must be a generated image. I don’t see any clouds.
Tim_Danahersays
Already said, no doubt, but to think that some people are content with having a personal relationship with a non-existent, foreskin-obsessed, desert war god.
daveausays
Is it just me, or is everyone tired of this Himalayocentrism?
And this is all we know, so far…
Gregory Greenwoodsays
Wow. Just wow. Once again I am reminded of how big the Universe is, and how truly miniscule we are by comparison. It drives me mad to hear conceited theists blithly say;
“Oh yeah. Big isn’t it? God made all that.”
And when you demur they follow up with;
“How else could it have come to be? It is too big and complicated to be there by accident.”
They also complain that atheists have no sense of wonder about the Universe. Many theists conflate being humbled by the scale of reality with worshipping jebus. I cannot imagine how anyone can look at the vastness of the Universe and believe that it was all hand crafted by a psychotic bronze age fantasy of a deity. Even worse, they believe that all this vastness exists as no more than a means to the end of our own narrow and cosmically insignificant existence.
It is hard for some people to accept that, in the grand scale of galaxies, we are not even remotely important.
Great video PZ. Can someone hurry up and invent a working Alcubierre drive or Einstein-Rosen Bridge? Pretty please? Failing that, what about a means to extend the human liferspan until such technology exists? That would be cool too. I believe UXO mentioned ‘Ray Kurzweil’s predictions of physical immortality’ @ 88.
Dustsays
creating trons:
if you scroll to the bottom of the satellie view page, you can change your viewing options, and one of them is clouds. The page defaults to the ‘Living Earth’ option, but the are lots of options to play around with.
I like to look at different satellite links and play “where in the world is this?” I can’t always tell. Some of the nightside views of the earth are stunning.
creating tronssays
Dust
Thanx again. cool link. are these real pics? I hope so. and if so I wonder how old they are.
Just another reminder: everything all biologists have worked on so far, is restricted to that insignificant little speck of dust called Earth. That is how insignificant biology is.
granddtasticsays
I see this as a beautiful display of how small we are, and that the concept of a god makes absolutely no sense. Another person can see it as evidence for an all powerful being. Although, the intentions of that being are still left unexplained and quite ridiculous to me.
alberty788says
The expansion of space is accelerating and on large enough scales it is faster than the speed of light. Much of the universe (most?) is already beyond the visible horizon. In the very distant future, everything except the closest objects will be outside the observable universe. You really make it seem so easy with your presentation but I find this topic to be really something which I think I would never understand. It seems too complicated and very broad for me. I am looking forward for your next post, I will try to get the hang of it! houses
andybrown12says
cool vid, glad I found this blog, watched a uk program last night that showed lightning coming from the floor and some amazing lightning shows in the sky when it was slowed down.
What a ridiculously lovely way to begin a Saturday.
Wow! I actually had to stop watching that after a certain point! It’s literally like the Total Perspective Vortex in Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, except my reaction was (to mix my cultural references) a lot less like Zaphod’s and more like Bloom County’s Oliver Wendell Jones. The immensity of the universe is so staggering to contemplate I just want a cookie.
Beautiful. Why do poeple need to make things up when reality has such an aweinspiring vista.
And thinking it was all made so we can exist is in no way arrogant or narcissistic.
(Here is xkcd’s not as visually stunning, but funnier, showing of the observable universe)
You are here. This is what else is out there.
Any questions?
But where was Jebus?
But how does this fit in with The Electric Universe?
Sorry, a man walking on water is much more impressive. Especially since he believed that demons caused disease.
I can see how someone could see god in all of this, it is a true majestic mystery after all…
It was the realization of the immense scope of the universe that first lead me from theism to deism to atheism.
It is unbelievable to me that anyone can contemplate the universe for even a minute and still cling to any form of theism. their are over a hundred billion stars in our galaxy alone and millions upon millions of galaxies more, countless planets spanning an expanse so large it is simply beyond the realm of human comprehension. To look at that and be able to think it exists merely as a pretty backdrop for us while we sort out the important stuff like what you can eat, who you can have sex with and whether or not women should wear hats, To think that it is the petty minutiae of our day to day lives that is whats of grand cosmic, eternal significance takes a level of arrogance I cannot begin to understand.
Anyone feel slightly smaller after that?
it sucks when PZ uses the best comment as the post title
One little criticism — I would have liked for it be more obvious that the vast cloud of glowing “dust” that the viewer was traveling through when zooming in and out of the Milky Way is actually a vast number of stars. It almost made that clear, but not quite.
Otherwise, beautifully done.
Incredible visualization! Now I too have seen everything there was. I really liked how the camera spun around to show Orion’s Belt (which I see in the sky most nights and use to find my favorite constellations) when the full Earth came into view.
How likely would it be to find something like this playing at religious gatherings (without a god edited in somewhere)? The known universe is beautiful yes, but it was and is completely inhospitable for the most part. How do sheeple explain even the smallest slice of it such as the existence of the other planets in our solar system?
Wow! That made me think of one of my favorite quotes:
Thanks for sharing that PZ!
“Consider the true picture. Think of myriads of tiny bubbles, very sparsely scattered, rising through a vast black sea. We rule some of the bubbles. Of the waters we know nothing…”
From “The Mote in God’s Eye” by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle.
What about one that goes the other way now. I want to feel big again…
xkcd again.
Tis just reality and nothing more that comes a tap tap tapping at our cosmic door!
Lovely, what a great thing to wake up to on a Saturday morning! My only complaint, of course, is the lack of resolution when we get past the planets in our solar system. Why don’t we have starships that travel at relativistic speeds yet?
WOW!
On a happy side note, I have just watched the video on YouTube and was very excited to see that, although comments in YouTube are known for being among the worse on the net, all attempts to credit these wonders to deities have been categorically repelled. These folks are the future and it just seems a little brighter this morning :)
Actually, to be pedantic, it’s the entire known universe in 3.5 minutes – the remainder’s the trip home. Making good time, one might say! :)
@RamblinDude – I agree. I actually thought while watching it, “Wonder how many folks realize that ‘dust’ is actually STARS?”. Freaks me the hell out!
I am impressed.
It doesn’t. If Plasma Cosmology is correct, no big bang, the CMBR isn’t its afterglow, age of universe isn’t 13.7 billion but timeless, Quasars aren’t the farthest objects we can see, etc…
“I can see how someone could see god in all of this, it is a true majestic mystery after all…”
I’m not sure how. To me, it just underlines how small the god concept really is, at least in the morality play of Christianity.
Reminds me of how as a kid you’d sign your name in yearbooks and such as “[name], [city], [state], [country], Earth, Solar System, Milky Way, the Universe”.
The only thing that is misleading is that the universe is a spheroid. There is no center to the universe and no outer edge. This spheroid they show is of the “known”, or observable universe. What we can look at so far. The universe is not a 3 dimensional bubble. Everywhere is both the center AND the edge.
We haven’t seen the entire universe yet. Just that much.
Think of it this way…
Where is the center of you? Not geometrically, but where is your beginning?
Clarification…
In my above statement, I meant that in the video, the universe was represented as a spheroid.
It is not.
It is flat in 4 dimensions. 2 parallel lights traveling great distances stay parallel.
Fucking amazing. I thought it was going to be a bit of a boring clip, until I realised the six minutes were already over, and I wachted it a gain! Indeed a ridiculously end way to end (in my case) a saturday.
@ #10 Well said!
I really like it!
It reminds me of my trip to Mrs. Perry’s place….Thanks!
I absolutely loved how they showed you the actual scale of the solar system. I’m so sick of how just about every bit of CGI showing the planets where you move away from the Earth and through the solar system, past the other planetary bodies, which apparently is supposed to show us something informative completely fucks up the distances: Mars is usually about as far away from the Earth as the moon should be, Jupiter only twice as far and Saturn just next to it.
We are incredibly far from anything else, even the nearest rocky planet. Staring at the place we are shown Earth should be and waiting and waiting for it to appear while moving towards it at an immense speed really helps drive the point home. Earth is a tiny little speck in a vast emptyness. And there are no nearby islands in this sea of nothing. If everybody realized this, maybe we wouldn’t be so careless about squandering the Earth’s very limited resources.
Interstellar bungee-jumping?
Lovely.
Yes, really. Here’s this really, really, really big place, the entirety of which god is supposed to hold domain over, and you want to tell me he cares the least little bit that some microscopic nit on a microscopic dot near a microscopic point of light gajillions of miles out there somwhere is thinking about his neighbors wife?
Isn’t there something that can be done for these poor people who are signing in with a goooogle account?
It’s a damn eyesore!
a bit fuzzy on the details, what?
Seems to me that the video spent an awful lot of time on one insignificant little planet, but other than that it was quite good.
Martin #2:
Word. I find that a cookie is a fine palliative for many of life’s conundrums and travails. And I don’t even have blue fur.
What’s up with the 46 billion light-years on top? There’s no such thing as 46 billion light-years. Or what have I overlooked?
“iPod femto” :-D :-D :-D
What’s Brian Greene knitting? Gluons? Glueballs even?
When the camera gets way out there like that, I always want it to turn around and look the other way.
This is a great analogy for how this makes me feel, which is so infinitely small and so very, very special* at the same time. I feel at once related to everything that ever was and will be, and utterly alone. Amazing. Accepting reality has bred in me more wonder, more gratitude and more humility than any metaphysics that briefly held my attention in my magical-thinking past. To quote Anatole France . . .
*The gist of what I mean by “special” is summed up by the Anatole France quote.
I wa reminded of Powers of ten. Hope they do a ‘remake’ of the way into microscopic world too.
Nice shot of the macro but on the return trip it should have proceded to the micro—the quantum “froth” as I recall. Alas, only half the story.
No, it wasn’t. The video very clearly said “our cosmic horizon”. That’s just the farthest extent we can see given the age of the universe and the speed of light. If the universe’s expansion is isotropic, the horizon will necessarily be a sphere.
Re: #39
1. Light from the CMB is 13.7 billion light years old. But you have to integrate over the expansion of the universe to get the distance to the CMB — 46 billion light years is about right.
In a crude analogy, think of calculating where a supersonic plane would be after you heard the sonic boom.
2. Brian Greene is definitely knitting strings (he’s a string theory proponent).
That’s the physical distance of the observable universe i.e, the distance to the furthest objects which we can see (distance from they are now, not when the light was emitted). If space wasn’t expanding that would simply be speed of light x age of the universe (i.e, cto) . However, since space is expanding it’s c∫0 to dt’/a(t’), where a(t’) is the scale factor, which changes with time. Apparently if you work it out it comes to ~46 billion light years.
I’m really confused. Doesn’t Earth rotate West to East? Did they animate the Earth rotating East to West, were they just panning the camera around Earth, or am I seeing this wrong?
Nice imagination evilutionists. Tell me, if evolution is true, how do you explain how evolution created the universe and life? It can’t. More fairy tales.
I. Am Poe.
@ #48
Well that’s an easy one! We don’t claim evolution created the universe and life! You are confusing evolution with abiogenesis and the “Big Bang”. Now creationism, there’s a fairy tale.
Evil Eye: I’m trying to get this. when I watched it the first thing that came to me was that it appeared that the earth was the center of the universe. but we are just the center of our known cosmic horizon, correct? if the universe is expanding, and I believe it is, wouldn’t we be closer to one edge than the other? is there an edge?
I would’ve loved a fly-by of the moon and any planets as the “camera” drew back, but beautiful! I look at that with a sense of wonder and amazement. What do YECs see? Do they see anything or just close their eyes?
But, but, but … How can this begin and end in Europe? Everyone knows that the center of the Universe is the U.S. You cannot have a UniverSe without a U and an S.
Chlorophyll, #48 admits to being a Poe. His question is really stupid, but apparently it’s a Poe. Why, i wonder? What’s the point?
How awful to think I’m stuck here on this rock with you people.
#53. Point? You need a point? The first thing that popped into my head after watching the clip, then reading comments like “the universe is so vast, religion comphrehends so little” was that a creobot would respond with a non-sequitur like the one above. The old “If you can’t explain this, then my biblical fairy-tale wins by default” fallacy….
Anyway, sorry for interrupting.
“Evil Eye: I’m trying to get this. when I watched it the first thing that came to me was that it appeared that the earth was the center of the universe. but we are just the center of our known cosmic horizon, correct? if the universe is expanding, and I believe it is, wouldn’t we be closer to one edge than the other? is there an edge?”
Saying that we are at the center of our own cosmic horizon is perfectly acceptable.
No matter where you are in the universe, your horizon will be different than anywhere else.
Our perspective from Earth can look in any direction and look back toward the beginning of time. But someone far out of our distance of visible light will also have their own bubble. Still the same universe, but that’s as far as they can see. We cannot look beyond the time it took the first light to reach us. That doesn’t mean there is nothing farther. (further?) It just means that right now… all we can see is back to the moments that light was created.
Here… let me analogize it for you.
You look to the west. There is a horizon. Is that the edge of the Earth? No.
It is simply as far as you can see.
The universe is a HUGE place and in every direction you are looking back in time.
Imagine the surface of a bubble being 3d instead of 2d. There is no inside or outside of the bubble. Only the surface in 3 directions.
Everything on that surface is the center or no center at all.
Where is the center of the surface of a basketball?
Cresting trons :
we’re at the center of the observable universe (by definition).
But the entire universe has no center, nor edge.
Think of it this way :
first, picture a 2-sphere, ie the surface of a ball, a 2 dimensional manifold in 3D space : it has no center nor edge, right ?
now, (try to) picture a 3-sphere, ie a 3 dimensional manifold in 4D space. Same thing, no center, no edge.
The fact that the universe expands doesn’t change the picture : think again of the 2 sphere and imagine the ball is expanding. Still no center nor edge.
Same for the 3 dimensional manifold in 4D space which is the Universe.
Evil Eye beat me to it by one minute…
that’s the problem with blogs. When you are typing a response, you never know if someone else is typing a similar response at the same time.
We are working on that on the other thread (botom line)…hows your chemistry?
thanx, both of you. that makes more sense to me. is it safe to assume that light is traveling faster than the expansion, so that one day we may see the edge of expansion in real time?
I live in the smokie mountains and have 3 telescopes. the night view there is awesome.
I tried reading A Brief History of Time twice and couldn’t finish the book. this shit is so far over my head, but I’m not giving up. a clear night, a glass of whiskey, and a telescope. my perfect evening. unless its cold. then we’ll start a fire. maybe add some bacon.
Evil Eye, whoever you are, thanks for helping me understand our place in space. I’ve tried to comprehend the vastness of our universe and get bogged down a few light years beyond the Milky Way. Somehow, your post (#56) helped. A small “aha” moment. Thanks, and you have a fan!
Reminds me of the “Powers of Ten” video by Eames… hmmm. Yep, youtube has it also:
-DU-
Very beautiful, PZ. Thanks for sharing it.
negentropyeater, #57
That’s how I always thought of it, but recently I’ve seen talks saying that the universe is ‘flat’ (and therefore has no net energy).
Can you clarify how the universe can be a 3-sphere (or at least have no edge/centre) and flat at the same time?
I’m guessing when they say flat they mean something different to I’m thinking of…
Incredibly, this entire video was done by a single individual using an the World Book encyclopedia, Microsoft Paint, and a 1988 JVC camcorder.
Bravo!
? The Tibetan Himalayas are in Europe?
#66 Sven D: I wondered this myself, but let it go.
#67 Perhaps Eurasia?
As a sceptic, I reserve judgment until all of the raw data files are produced.
when I watched it the first thing that came to me was that it appeared that the earth was the center of the universe.
— head desk —
— head desk —
— head desk —
— head desk —
where’s the line? I always wondered how India could be called asian when they don’t look like my precon of asian? is this a cross of asian and middle eastern?
I work in the states with some degreed indians and sometimes its frustrating when the indians won’t disagree with a ranking peer because (I’ve been advised) he’s a higher caste ranking. its like bullshit. you know the answer is wrong but you can’t call him on it. of course we do, but then the consensuss (spell?) is split.
Sometimes I think I can sort of understand why some people want to believe in a god. Videos like this leave me wondering why on earth (and all the rest) anyone would want to cheapen the majesty of the universe by pasting a petty, childish wizard onto it.
#70 Doug: I’m sorry you hurt your forehead, but that is how the video ends. the middle starts at the horizon and drives towards the center and we find that this center is earth.
maybe you should put a pillow on your desk…
Knowledge, with humility and a sense of awe. Who needs religion, when science does the job so much better? Thank goodness some people are looking outwards, rather than arguing about what you can do with your penis or what you’re allowed to wear.
Wow… that gave me a sciencegasm.
#75 me too, can we compare?
@ Schpwuette
The universe is flat in that parallel lines never intersect. If the universe were spheroidal, no matter how large, parallel lines would cross. Like the longitudinal lines on globe do at the poles.
Think of an ever expanding Rubik’s cube. Every cube is always parallel to the others (and in every direction) no mater how many cubes there are or how big they get.
@Douglas: It would be absolutely correct to say the earth is at the centre of the known universe, or at the centre of the observed universe, or at the centre of the currently observable universe, or even at the centre of our universe. I’m all for modesty, but we really are at the centre of our own universe.
In fact, one of the alternatives to inflation theory (which, let’s face it, is pretty ugly and arbitrary) is that the universe is in fact not homogenous, and that we occupy a relatively unique area. So… y’know… maybe we are special?
Evil: how would parallel ever cross? at the poles the lines just meet.
Schpwuette,
flat means that it can be described by a Euclidean geometry, ie a geometry with no spatial curvature.
The topology of the universe is more generally that of a 3-manifold. Depending on the curvature, there are different possible 3-manifolds. If the curvature is nul (flat), for example you have the 3 torus. If it is positive, you have for example the 3 sphere. If it is negative, you have the so called horn topologies.
Current measurements seem to indicate that the spatial curvature is very close to zero, which makes it very difficult to come up with a sufficiently precise figure and determine which of those 3-manifolds is the correct topology.
Comming back to the first point, none of these 3-manifolds has a center nor an edge.
I know, the whole thing is not very easy to explain. It gets easy when you’ve studied differential geometry though.
And 3-manifolds are just so damn difficult to visualize ;-) I just prefer the equations.
Center of the visible universe. Big difference.
@ # 60: “is it safe to assume that light is traveling faster than the expansion, so that one day we may see the edge of expansion in real time?”
Let’s break into two parts:
“is it safe to assume that light is traveling faster than the expansion”
No, current standard thought is: during inflation, space expanded way faster than the speed of light, and things that are ‘far enough away’ are currently receding faster than the speed of light. (This is OK by way of relativity).
Also, the CMB, the surface of last scattering, ever since about 300,000 years after the Big Bang, is the farthest ‘back’ we could see (in photons). So, when the universe was 1,000,000 years old, you could see back to the surface 300,000 years after Big Bang.
Today, 13.7 billion years post Big Bang, the farthest back we still see is 300,000 years after the Big Bang.
“so that one day we may see the edge of expansion in real time?”
No in two ways: there is no ‘edge’ of expansion. And, it appears that the expansion rate is accelerating, so eventually (REALLY long time) the Milky-Way-Dromeda will essentially be an island that can see nothing else. We wouldn’t see anything past our own galaxy — essentially the ‘far enough away’ to be receding faster than light becomes a distance ‘close’ to our galaxy.
But a Rubik’s cube has definitely a center, and an edge.
No, if you want to try to visualize a flat Universe, think of the 3 dimensional equivallent of the surface of a torus.
All parrallel lines do not cross, yet no center and no edge. And a finite volume.
creating trons, #60:
No. As far as I understand it, the expansion of space is accelerating and on large enough scales it is faster than the speed of light. Much of the universe (most?) is already beyond the visible horizon. In the very distant future, everything except the closest objects will be outside the observable universe. Astronomy will be a very different kind of subject then, if there is anyone on any planet still around to do it.
Thanks, Conversational Atheist. I think you’ve explained it better than I could have done.
There is the “Big Rip” theory that the expansion of space will eventually rip apart everything at progressively smaller scales, even down to subatomic particles. I’m not sure how much I should believe that, but it’s worth noting.
Yea, I should have quilified that we would not be here long enough to realise the info in person.
but lets talk about the time past our existance on this planet. will our planet survive? I guesss not. how will we continue our existance? short term is mars, but we need more than short term answers.
short to medium term – say 1000 to 10^8 years – requires as proper space program. Longer term requires a…. universe program (?) that would provide a way of moving across to a younger (or otherwise more useful) universe before this one runs down.
The dinosaurs failed at the space program. They’re gone. (Yes, I know, oversimplification. Deal with it – this is the intaht00bz)
@creating trons: Speak for yourself! I’m banking on Ray Kurzweil’s predictions of physical immortality, followed roughly by Asimov’s “The Last Question”!
Carl Sagan would have loved this.
Using 3d analogies to explain a 4 dimentional space is hard.
But I can explain the “expanding faster than light” question.
Nothing is moving faster than light. Space is filling in the gaps faster than light can get across it.
Think of a sidewalk with 3 sections. You start walking, but for every step you take another section (space) is added. If it takes you 2 steps to complete 1 section, soon you will find that you can not only not see the other end of the sidewalk, but you can never reach it.
@ negentropyeater
I was talking about the parallel lines.. not the center/edge. That’s two different questions.
If the Rubik’s cube was indeed 4 dimensional, then there still would be no center or edge.
@negentropyeater
Aha. It all makes sense now. Thanks. A torus shape hadn’t occurred to me…
To be more precise, the expansion parameter or the scale factor which describes the expansion of the universe is the same everywhere in the Universe (isotropy). It varies with time.
The velocity at which a given galaxy is receding from us is equal to its distance from us times the expansion parameter. v = H(0)x D , Hubble’s law.
Because some galaxies within the observable universe are at a distance from us which is superior to c/H(0) = 13.7 LYrs (see Feynmaniac #46) those galaxies are receding from us at a speed which is superior to c.
“The expansion of space is faster than the speed of light” is meaningless.
you guys are great. thanx for the education. I want more.
negentropyeater: Thanks.
Yes, apologies all around: the way I worded it is meaningless. As a non-physicist, it’s rather hard to understand, much less explain it.
Tim Rowledge #87,
This reminds me of the Kardashev scale :
Level 1 civilization has achieved mastery of the resources of its home planet, Level 2 of its solar system, and Level 3 of its galaxy.
We’re now a Level 0.7.
Will we ever reach 1 ? (my guess is no, humans aren’t sufficiently rational)
Imagine being way out there and your gps goes out..trying to work out which galaxy is yours, then which star is yours
lonely feeling :-(
Do you think Phil will become jealous and start posting about Cephalopods? ;)
ALL science is cool.
That is all.
@ creating trons
might I suggest Astronomycast?
http://www.astronomycast.com/
After the resurrection and baby magic man ascended, how far “up” did he go? And is he still going…
Lovely, but it doesn’t even begin to give a real sense of the scale. The pan-out accelerated outrageously yet gave the impression of being at more-or-less the same rate. Necessary, of course – we’d all be long dead before it finished, otherwise.
“big bang” Really? I didn’t think anyone believed this anymore? hmm…
@ Thomas
“Big Bang” is somewhat of a misnomer.
It should have been called the “Big Expansion.
There was no “bang”. Just a sudden inflation of energy from a zero-point to everything that is now.
There is more to it than that, but much more than need be explained on a biological/atheist blog comment section.
I just thought of a biological equivalent ….
The Cambrian “Explosion” was not an instant in time. It was only short in the scale of the entire measurement of geologic time.
The “Big Bang” was the initial point at which energy became loose, then spread out…. about the size of a grapefruit in 100,000 years, then began to interact by gravity, and then… and then… and then…. etc…. until light…. then matter… then the universe as we know it.
Try “Powers of Ten“.
And the annual Powers of Ten Day celebration will be especially powerful because it will fall on October 10 ’10.
G’night, all!
Linky to view the earth from the artifical satellites:
http://www.fourmilab.ch/earthview/satellite.html
Great
now I’m like a gazillion years old via twin paradox, thanks alot
Evil Eye thanx for the link. that’ll keep me busy for a few…years. a few years ago when I first used a telescope, I thought I was looking at Venus except there were 4 little lights, 2 on each side. I thought there was something wrong with my lens, and I cleaned them but the lights were still there. 2 days (nights) later I realised it was Jupiter. I was blown away. I have since bought another scope and a pair of planetary binoculars. I love this shit.
Dust that link is great. how do they do that? is it a real picture? do all satellites have cameras? wow.
Dust: this must be a generated image. I don’t see any clouds.
Already said, no doubt, but to think that some people are content with having a personal relationship with a non-existent, foreskin-obsessed, desert war god.
Is it just me, or is everyone tired of this Himalayocentrism?
And this is all we know, so far…
Wow. Just wow. Once again I am reminded of how big the Universe is, and how truly miniscule we are by comparison. It drives me mad to hear conceited theists blithly say;
“Oh yeah. Big isn’t it? God made all that.”
And when you demur they follow up with;
“How else could it have come to be? It is too big and complicated to be there by accident.”
They also complain that atheists have no sense of wonder about the Universe. Many theists conflate being humbled by the scale of reality with worshipping jebus. I cannot imagine how anyone can look at the vastness of the Universe and believe that it was all hand crafted by a psychotic bronze age fantasy of a deity. Even worse, they believe that all this vastness exists as no more than a means to the end of our own narrow and cosmically insignificant existence.
It is hard for some people to accept that, in the grand scale of galaxies, we are not even remotely important.
Great video PZ. Can someone hurry up and invent a working Alcubierre drive or Einstein-Rosen Bridge? Pretty please? Failing that, what about a means to extend the human liferspan until such technology exists? That would be cool too. I believe UXO mentioned ‘Ray Kurzweil’s predictions of physical immortality’ @ 88.
creating trons:
if you scroll to the bottom of the satellie view page, you can change your viewing options, and one of them is clouds. The page defaults to the ‘Living Earth’ option, but the are lots of options to play around with.
I like to look at different satellite links and play “where in the world is this?” I can’t always tell. Some of the nightside views of the earth are stunning.
Dust
Thanx again. cool link. are these real pics? I hope so. and if so I wonder how old they are.
Just another reminder: everything all biologists have worked on so far, is restricted to that insignificant little speck of dust called Earth. That is how insignificant biology is.
I see this as a beautiful display of how small we are, and that the concept of a god makes absolutely no sense. Another person can see it as evidence for an all powerful being. Although, the intentions of that being are still left unexplained and quite ridiculous to me.
The expansion of space is accelerating and on large enough scales it is faster than the speed of light. Much of the universe (most?) is already beyond the visible horizon. In the very distant future, everything except the closest objects will be outside the observable universe. You really make it seem so easy with your presentation but I find this topic to be really something which I think I would never understand. It seems too complicated and very broad for me. I am looking forward for your next post, I will try to get the hang of it! houses
cool vid, glad I found this blog, watched a uk program last night that showed lightning coming from the floor and some amazing lightning shows in the sky when it was slowed down.