quote:

Originally posted by rebut10:
Jimbo,
What really blows me away about this image (which is cropped at the top and bottom BTW) is, according to NASA's caption on their web site, that its perspective is as if you held a nickel at arms length looking at the thin edge out toward space. That is how small a slice of the universe it represents...mind boggling...

Also, great image of our tiny planet WCB.

quote:

Originally posted by Jimbo54:
This Hubble photo always blows me away when I see it. Those are all galaxies billions of light-years away.



Jim

The Hubble Deep Field image.
My favorite too. It actually is a millimeter square on your finger at arms length for reference.
You are actually looking back in time at the formation of these galaxies billions of years ago.
I can look at this image and understand the magnitude of what it represents. That makes us significant.

quote:

Originally posted by jbcummings:
And we advertise our existence by shooting hardware off into space. Littering up the solar system one trillion dollar project at a time. Wonder how freaked out we'd be if a Cassini craft did a fly by of our little blue dot in space?

You have a better alternative?

Sit around, build a campfire, and sing a couple of songs?

We are flailing about, yes, but it's better than doing nothing. MUCH better.

quote:

Originally posted by Ryanp225:

quote:

Originally posted by rebut10:
Jimbo,
What really blows me away about this image (which is cropped at the top and bottom BTW) is, according to NASA's caption on their web site, that its perspective is as if you held a nickel at arms length looking at the thin edge out toward space. That is how small a slice of the universe it represents...mind boggling...

Also, great image of our tiny planet WCB.

quote:

Originally posted by Jimbo54:
This Hubble photo always blows me away when I see it. Those are all galaxies billions of light-years away.



Jim

The Hubble Deep Field image.
My favorite too. It actually is a millimeter square on your finger at arms length for reference.
You are actually looking back in time at the formation of these galaxies billions of years ago.
I can look at this image and understand the magnitude of what it represents. That makes us significant.

More mind boggling is that the picture was taken in a spot that has always been a dark area that no other telescope was able to capture anything. Think about that.

Jim

I think about that all the time. The mysteries of the cosmos and our explorations of it are my passion.

quote:

Originally posted by Ryanp225:
I think about that all the time. The mysteries of the cosmos and our explorations of it are my passion.

You are not alone in your thoughts.

The distance between stars has always fascinated me. It's almost inconceivable that there is that much empty space out there.

The vast expanse is amazing. But yet no one has linked Monty yet?

Meaning of Life

I don't think the human mind is capable of grasping the concept of infinity, or the size and scope of the universe.

With billions of galaxies, each containing billions upon billions of stars, it is inconceivable and beyond arrogant to think we are the only intelligent life. Maybe too far away for us to ever make contact, but it's out there.

The images of the Hubble telescope are amazing.

quote:

Originally posted by RHINOWSO:

quote:

Originally posted by Ryanp225:
I think about that all the time. The mysteries of the cosmos and our explorations of it are my passion.

You are not alone in your thoughts.

It solidifies my belief that there is a creator. All of that matter didn't come nothing prior to the big bang. That is if you believe in the big bang theory.

Jim

quote:

Originally posted by Muddflap:
Makes you feel a little insignificant.

Nah. I'm a pretty big fuckin deal. Just ask my dog.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: BRL, April 21, 2017 10:31 PM

This is a really great interview. I enjoy the part where Al describes what he saw on the dark side of the moon.


"So there was a little space around the far side of the Moon where I was shadowed from both the Earth and the Sun and that was pretty amazing. I could see more stars than I could possibly imagine. It really makes you wonder about our place in the Universe and what we’re all about. When you see that many stars out there you realize that those are really suns and those suns could have planets around them and all that kind of stuff.

The sky is just awash with stars when you’re on the far side of the Moon, and you don’t have any sunlight to cut down on the lower intensity, dimmer stars. You see them all, and it’s all just a sheet of white.

As you know, we’re part of the Milky Way galaxy and we look at it sideways, we look through it. I saw so many stars looking out that it was very hard to make out anything like a Milky Way. In fact, there were so many stars that I had some difficulty finding any of the 37 brighter stars we used as navigation guide stars because they were so bathed in starlight from all the other stars around them.

Avi: So, for example, you would try and find Sirius and…
Al: …and it would be very difficult to find. And there were times when I had to let the guidance computer drive the sextant to the star that I wanted to use for navigation because I had difficulty finding it with all the other stars out there that just washed everything out."

https://medium.com/learning-fo...-glance-89d094f6d40f

quote:

Originally posted by LS1 GTO:
If the sun were 3 inches in diameter and located in Dallas, the Earth would be a grain of sand, Jupiter 117.4 feet away from Earth and the nearest star in Boston.

So yes, it is all about Dallas being the center of everything.

Since we see equal distances in all directions, it is quite obvious that we're in the center....

flashguy

quote:

Originally posted by rebut10:
Jimbo,
What really blows me away about this image (which is cropped at the top and bottom BTW) is, according to NASA's caption on their web site, that its perspective is as if you held a nickel at arms length looking at the thin edge out toward space. That is how small a slice of the universe it represents...mind boggling...

Also, great image of our tiny planet WCB.

quote:

Originally posted by Jimbo54:
This Hubble photo always blows me away when I see it. Those are all galaxies billions of light-years away.



Jim

I concur a great photograph and to think that it has taken billions of years for the light from those galaxies to get here where we see them! They may not even exist anymore, or exist in the state we are seeing them now. Any planets and/or civilizations there may have been born, peaked or declined, then ceased to exist long before that light came to earth!

quote:

Originally posted by Jimbo54:
This Hubble photo always blows me away when I see it. Those are all galaxies billions of light-years away.



Jim

Those are the molecules next to us

Great photo in the OP.

I love such things.

I just want to know where the universe is.

I'll take that question to my grave.

quote:

Originally posted by cas:
No Lives Matter pic

It'd be great if there was a more polite version of this to wear as a shirt.

Ever since Gary retired from his Far Side cartoons, I switched my calendars from Far Side to Astronomy pics.

It gives me comfort to know that what I'm doing, the results of which may be spectacular failures or successes will not mean one thing in the big scheme of things a million years from now.

We couldn't be more insignificant in a universal context. Teeny, frail, and insignificant.

Yet we are pretty badass and interesting and capable, just the same.

And we have made a ton of progress in a relatively short time frame.

I want to stand on the moon or some other celestial body once in my life.

Just give me an hour or so to ponder things and take it all in.

Maybe one-day.

quote:

Originally posted by Jimbo54:
It solidifies my belief that there is a creator. All of that matter didn't come nothing prior to the big bang.Jim

Doesn't the idea of a "creator" actually imply that it did come from nothing? If not, the Creator was just rearranging what was already there.