What is the universe ?

Damn it

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... e-Sun.html

Over a quarter of Americans do not know the Earth circles the Sun, according to a new survey

I'd like to think those 550 surveyed were just a bad example, surely the percentage would be lower if they quizzed more people. Surely, HOPEFULLY...

I'm going to go cry now.

Awesome:

http://www.policymic.com/articles/81873 ... nteractive

I remember when I first used Google Earth. I was really scared when I noticed how big the earth is and how small it all looks when you zoom out... THIS makes me a) think of this:



and b) make me very insignificant indeed.

What comes to mind is this question: If the galaxy that we are in is the "Milky Way" how can we see it from earth?

[WeeMann]

What comes to mind is this question: If the galaxy that we are in is the "Milky Way" how can we see it from earth?

We're right on the outer edge of one of the arms - what we see is the rest of the galaxy, basically looking up and left in this image:

What comes to mind is this question: If the galaxy that we are in is the "Milky Way" how can we see it from earth?

We're right on the outer edge of one of the arms - what we see is the rest of the galaxy, basically looking up and left in this image:

So who took that photo???

There's no watermark so we can rule out anyone from QOL.

So huge! Mind blowing!

[WeeMann]

So who took that photo???

It was a mate of mine - he's got one of those remote control shutter trigger thingies. Quite clever really.

Thanks .
Well, I did buy Brian's "Bang!" and read the first couple of chapters (they are very well written), but he (or they) lost me after that... Not the easiest topic to read in a foreign language.

As a newly elected fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society I can tell you, we've got no idea what the universe is...

What comes to mind is this question: If the galaxy that we are in is the "Milky Way" how can we see it from earth?

Think of it as a house you're sitting in: you can see the walls from the inside, but you can't take a picture of it from the outside at the same time.

You're seeing it as a band of very dim light because it's more or less a disk. All the stars you can see in the night sky are within our own galaxy. Other galaxies you see contain stars as well, of course, but you can't make out individual stars in those...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbc.com/future/bes ... index.html

This short video really shows how big space is, and how small we are.
http://youtu.be/HEheh1BH34Q

What is it ? We do not know.. but it is huge.. that is for sure.

All I could think of when I saw this post...



"Space," it says, "is big. Really big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mindbogglingly 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, listen..."- The Hitchiker's Guide To The Galaxy, Douglas Adams.

Anyone else watching Neil DeGrasse Tyson's 'The Cosmos'? Brilliant series.