CasInterest From United States of America, joined Feb 2005, 3280 posts, RR: 1 Reply 3, posted (3 years 4 months 4 hours ago) and read 1491 times:
Pretty Cool.
I myself always finding myself pondering what is beyond the Horizon of the known universe, considering time and space are supposidly infinite.
Wonder if the universe and beyond are much like those scenes from Men in Black.
Older than I just was ,and younger than I will soo be.
Fruitbat From United Kingdom, joined Dec 2006, 547 posts, RR: 6 Reply 4, posted (3 years 3 months 4 weeks 1 day 22 hours ago) and read 1430 times:
And just how insignificant do you feel now......?
I'm sure that there's something in the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy that talks about this - a machine that shows you just how you significant you are in the context of the whole universe....it's a method of execution based on a potato, I seem to recall.......
Weaseling out of things is important to learn. It's what separates us from the animals ... except the weasel.
Tbar220 From United States of America, joined Feb 2000, 7011 posts, RR: 28 Reply 5, posted (3 years 3 months 4 weeks 1 day 22 hours ago) and read 1425 times:
Quoting Fruitbat (Reply 4): And just how insignificant do you feel now......?
Exactly what was on my mind after I saw that.
Also, really makes me wonder how there is NOT some other form of intelligent life out there in a universe so vast.
Fruitbat From United Kingdom, joined Dec 2006, 547 posts, RR: 6 Reply 6, posted (3 years 3 months 4 weeks 1 day 21 hours ago) and read 1405 times:
Quoting Tbar220 (Reply 5): Also, really makes me wonder how there is NOT some other form of intelligent life out there in a universe so vast.
Oh, there is - it's just so far away in terms of space and time that it may as well NOT be there at all.
Which makes life difficult for fans of Science Fiction who also have an understanding of how we (currently) believe the universe to work.......so I'd draw the interested readers attention to a couple of SF authors who tackle this conundrum in totally different ways:
Iain M Banks - in his Culture universe, spacecraft travel at many multiples of the speed of light (100k x light speed) but even at this pace it takes a year to cross the galaxy and inter-galaxy travel (e.g from the Milky Way to Andromeda) is alluded to in hushed terms. Basically it's a case of bu**er the physics as we understand it, we need speed to make a galaxy-wide civilisation possible......
Alistair Reynolds - in his Revelation Space universe, speeds of close to light speed are possible but that's the limit (at least as far as I've got in the books ) - so the growth of space-faring races is constrained simply by the huge distances that need to be travelled. There's lots of real-world physical understanding and a heavy reliance on cryogenics to make the whole thing work.
Both authors are highly recommended by the way, especially for lovers of Space Opera!
Weaseling out of things is important to learn. It's what separates us from the animals ... except the weasel.
GrahamHill From France, joined Mar 2007, 2515 posts, RR: 2 Reply 7, posted (3 years 3 months 4 weeks 1 day 20 hours ago) and read 1386 times:
Very nice vid! It make you feel so small...
Quoting Tbar220 (Reply 5): Also, really makes me wonder how there is NOT some other form of intelligent life out there in a universe so vast.
Makes me wonder IF there is any form of life, intelligent or not. With hundreds of billions of stars, which might host the same amount of planets, I find it very difficult that there is not at least one like ours
"A learned fool is more foolish than an ignorant one" - Moliere
JetsGo From United States of America, joined Jul 2003, 2964 posts, RR: 5 Reply 8, posted (3 years 3 months 4 weeks 1 day 19 hours ago) and read 1371 times:
Fascinating!
I've always wondered...Say you were able to travel a minuscule 100 light years in an instant. Could you look back at earth with a powerful enough telescope and all required technology and see what was happening on Earth 100 years ago? This kind of stuff just gives me a headache after a while, but I love it!
PC12Fan From United States of America, joined Jan 2007, 2239 posts, RR: 5 Reply 9, posted (3 years 3 months 4 weeks 1 day 19 hours ago) and read 1372 times:
Quoting GrahamHill (Reply 7): I find it very difficult that there is not at least one like ours
I don't know about one like ours - IE wall street suits and suburbia - but life? I don't see how it couldn't be.
Just when I think you've said the stupidest thing ever, you keep talkin'!
GrahamHill From France, joined Mar 2007, 2515 posts, RR: 2 Reply 10, posted (3 years 3 months 4 weeks 1 day 9 hours ago) and read 1319 times:
Quoting PC12Fan (Reply 9): I don't know about one like ours - IE wall street suits and suburbia - but life? I don't see how it couldn't be.
When I said like ours, I meant a planet able to host life (which means a planet at the perfect distance from its sun to have liquid water). I was not meaning a planet exactly like ours, with cars and buildings and so on
"A learned fool is more foolish than an ignorant one" - Moliere
Cptkrell From United States of America, joined Sep 2001, 2558 posts, RR: 14 Reply 11, posted (3 years 3 months 4 weeks 1 day 6 hours ago) and read 1296 times:
As we used to say when in school in SoCal, "Far out" (no pun).
With math terms of billions and trillions now in common everyday usage it's still a bit beyond my grasp when applied to years/distances. But I suppose it's all a matter of scale and I would guess that a common house ant (if capable of our definition of thinking) would apply those distances in millimeters from say New York to Hong Kong.
It almosts makes me want to hang out for another few hundred or so years to see what developments will allow mankind to explore first hand further outer reaches, but then again, mankind may not even be around for another several hundred years.
Anyway it's a great animation and as others have said, it really illustrates the term "insignificance", in the big picture, anyway. Regards...jack
NoWorries From United States of America, joined Oct 2006, 523 posts, RR: 1 Reply 12, posted (3 years 3 months 4 weeks 1 day 6 hours ago) and read 1292 times:
Quoting JetsGo (Reply 8): I've always wondered...Say you were able to travel a minuscule 100 light years in an instant. Could you look back at earth with a powerful enough telescope and all required technology and see what was happening on Earth 100 years ago? This kind of stuff just gives me a headache after a while, but I love it!
The basic tenant of relativity is that all observers see light traveling at the same speed -- so it wouldn't ever be possible to "catch up" to light that has already left earth. But, by undergoing continuing acceleration away from earth, one could age much more slowly than an observer watching from earth -- so one could -- in theory -- travel a hundred light years in what may perhaps seem like only one or two years to the traveler. (The traveler would have a "proper velocity" much greater than the speed of light though his "relative velocity" velocity must always be less than the speed of light). The bad news for the traveler is that even though he may have aged only a few years, the people he left behind on the earth have aged at least a hundred years.
MD-90 From United States of America, joined Jan 2000, 8418 posts, RR: 13 Reply 13, posted (3 years 3 months 4 weeks 1 day 5 hours ago) and read 1287 times:
I've noticed that YouTube has changed its player format and for the first time ever my computer crashed at the end of the video (720p resolution). Strange, I've never had a problem before with YouTube on Firefox.
It is a neat video. I've always been a fan of APOD.
EA772LR From United States of America, joined Mar 2007, 2836 posts, RR: 10 Reply 14, posted (3 years 3 months 4 weeks 1 day 2 hours ago) and read 1253 times:
Absolutely incredible! Makes us realize just how insignificant our planet is, as well as our solar system, galaxy, and even our local group/cluster of galaxies
We often judge others by their actions, but ourselves by our intentions.
DocLightning From United States of America, joined Nov 2005, 16824 posts, RR: 57 Reply 15, posted (3 years 3 months 4 weeks 21 hours ago) and read 1219 times:
Quoting Fruitbat (Reply 6): spacecraft travel at many multiples of the speed of light (100k x light speed) but even at this pace it takes a year to cross the galaxy
100c isn't that fast. It would take about two weeks to get to Alpha Centauri and a THOUSAND years to cross the galaxy (100,000 LY across).
You'd need a few more orders of magnitude to even approach travel times like we have with jet aircraft on earth.
I just got a Banks book. I should start reading it, as I've exhausted all of Reynold's works.
Fruitbat From United Kingdom, joined Dec 2006, 547 posts, RR: 6 Reply 16, posted (3 years 3 months 4 weeks ago) and read 1165 times:
Quoting DocLightning (Reply 15): Quoting Fruitbat (Reply 6):
spacecraft travel at many multiples of the speed of light (100k x light speed) but even at this pace it takes a year to cross the galaxy
100c isn't that fast. It would take about two weeks to get to Alpha Centauri and a THOUSAND years to cross the galaxy (100,000 LY across).
You'd need a few more orders of magnitude to even approach travel times like we have with jet aircraft on earth.
I just got a Banks book. I should start reading it, as I've exhausted all of Reynold's works.
Sorry Doc, but I did say 100k x light speed
But I do love the comment about 100c not being "that fast" though - think how things would be different if we could really do that sort of speed! If you liked Reynolds, you should really enjoy Banks - fabulously inventive and also surreal in many ways....can't wait for his next Culture novel!
However welcome to my RU list - enjoyed reading your views in many debates even if I don't always agree.
Weaseling out of things is important to learn. It's what separates us from the animals ... except the weasel.
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From United Kingdom, joined Dec 2006, 547 posts, 
) - so the growth of space-faring races is constrained simply by the huge distances that need to be travelled. There's lots of real-world physical understanding and a heavy reliance on cryogenics to make the whole thing work.
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