Official Space is Awesome Thread

[NV825]

Link to view the image and look around

 

http://www.spacetele...1502a/zoomable/

 

 

Link to the story

 

http://blog.cosmosma...-billion-pixels

 

 

Andromeda contains over one thousand billion stars. Are we alone? Think they deal with slow play issues too?

[MtlJeff]

[quote name='NV825' timestamp='1420763946' post='10712017']
Link to view the image and look around

[url="http://www.spacetelescope.org/images/heic1502a/zoomable/"]http://www.spacetele...1502a/zoomable/[/url]


Link to the story

[url="http://blog.cosmosmagazine.com/blog/2015/1/6/hubble-takes-the-biggest-image-ever-of-andromeda-at-15-billion-pixels"]http://blog.cosmosma...-billion-pixels[/url]


Andromeda contains over one thousand billion stars. Are we alone? Think they deal with slow play issues too?
[/quote]

Nothing more humbling then reading about the universe, it's just crazy to even think about....

They are the closest major galaxy to us, and light they see from us, if they can see it, left 2.5 million years ago.

I believe some mathematicians have done analysis over probabilities of intelligent life based on proximity to stars and habitable zones , and estimated that there was likely millions of other life forms in our own galaxy...forget about even getting to Andromeda....which itself is one of billions of other galaxies

[bscinstnct]

Cool.

New view of the pillars of creation>

http://www.engadget.com/2015/01/08/big-picture-pillars-of-creation-hubble/

[FSCMatt]

Not to dumb down this topic, but space is awesome.

[bscinstnct]

[quote name='FSCMatt' timestamp='1420774682' post='10713123']
Not to dumb down this topic, but space is awesome.
[/quote]

Check it, yo.

New theories suggest the big bang was not the beginning, and that we may live in the past of a parallel universe.

"This two-futures situation would exhibit a single, chaotic past in both directions, meaning that there would be essentially two universes, one on either side of this central state,” Barbour says. “If they were complicated enough, both sides could sustain observers who would perceive time going in opposite directions. Any intelligent beings there would define their arrow of time as moving away from this central state. They would think we now live in their deepest past.”

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/2-futures-can-explain-time-s-mysterious-past/

[NV825]

[quote name='FSCMatt' timestamp='1420774682' post='10713123']
Not to dumb down this topic, but space is awesome.
[/quote]

I love space and was able to take 2 semesters worth of Astronomy while in college as electives. The sheer size of space is hard to comprehend for a lot of people when they ask why haven't we found intelligent life yet. There is thousands, millions and billions of light years of emptiness to the closest stars and galaxies, and nothing travels faster than the speed of light. The aliens would literally have to be our neighbors in this cosmic suburb for us to find out about them. I think they're out there, we just will never find out due to the space between us.

[Thrillhouse]

[quote name='FSCMatt' timestamp='1420774682' post='10713123']
Not to dumb down this topic, but space is awesome.
[/quote]

Space is awesome.

[apple_crumble]

Listen to this while you gaze into space: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H95IE98jr_k

[blaird]

MtlJeff said it best, its humbling. I love reading about stuff like this. I remember this chart that showed four planets in a picture relative to size and the sun was the last one. Well the next pic showed the sun as the smallest compared to larger stars. And it would go like this for 4 pictures. Amazing to think that there are stars that millions of our sun can fit into. Hard to really grasp how big everything is (thats what she said).

[12tamale]

Space the final frontier

[MMB1500]

Space isn't just awesome, it's flat-out bodacious. Not literally flat of course. Ripples in space time mean space is in fact curved and anything but flat, but 'curved-out bodacious' doesn't really work for the purposes of the sentence.

Astrophysics and the cosmos is very much a favorite subject of mine. A good recent book I read on this topic was 'Parallel Worlds' by Michio Kaku. A fascinating read even if 85% of it went completely over my head.

Anyway not to dumb things but what I really want to know is how far the average WRXer would hit their drives on the moon? I'm guessing we would be measuring them in miles rather than yards.

[Thrillhouse]

[quote name='Eagle006' timestamp='1420829802' post='10716759']
Space isn't just awesome, it's flat-out bodacious. Not literally flat of course. Ripples in space time mean space is in fact curved and anything but flat, but 'curved-out bodacious' doesn't really work for the purposes of the sentence.

Astrophysics and the cosmos is very much a favorite subject of mine. A good recent book I read on this topic was 'Parallel Worlds' by Michio Kaku. A fascinating read even if 85% of it went completely over my head.

Anyway not to dumb things but what I really want to know is how far the average WRXer would hit their drives on the moon? I'm guessing we would be measuring them in miles rather than yards.
[/quote]

I'm here, which means this thread has been dumbed down for a while, so ask away!

[Jseale]

Awesome indeed. "If earth were the size of this golf ball....."

http://youtu.be/PtpTk2ENq7o

[driverwedge]

Space is sweet. And humbling.

The most gigantic stars [HD]: http://youtu.be/_VEs11K0ATk

[scotee]

What's it all about, Alfie?

[esketores]

I demand an audit. And just who counted both the pixels and the stars.

[Imp]

I would love to see it where you can run a filter over it. "only show orange" "only show blue" "only show red".

"All you really need to know for the moment is that the universe is a lot more complicated than you might think, even if you start from a position of thinking it's pretty damn complicated in the first place." - Douglas Adams

He had a lot of good stuff to say about space, time, etc...

"The Total Perspective Vortex derives its picture of the whole Universe on the principle of extrapolated matter analyses.To explain — since every piece of matter in the Universe is in some way affected by every other piece of matter in the Universe, it is in theory possible to extrapolate the whole of creation — every sun, every planet, their orbits, their composition and their economic and social history from, say, one small piece of fairy cake. The man who invented the Total Perspective Vortex did so basically in order to annoy his wife." - Douglas Adams (again)

--kC

[Imp]

[quote name='NV825' timestamp='1420779476' post='10713469']
and nothing travels faster than the speed of light.
[/quote]I disagree (Again, thanks to Douglas Adams...)

“Nothing travels faster than the speed of light with the possible exception of bad news, which obeys its own special laws.”

--kC

[Michael C.]

Space is awesome.

What do you know about space, Gilligan?

I know you take up more of it than I do, Skipper!

My bad, I loved Gilligan's Island. Knowing what we know now about the universe, we would be naive to at least consider that we are not alone. I mean really, has anyone ever talked to Q? He is our resident alien

[hogans71]

I'm just freaked out by the fact that it goes on forever.

FOREVER. I mean, even if there was an end to it, there'd have to be something on the other side...

Freaky indeed.

[scotee]

[quote name='bscinstnct' timestamp='1420775890' post='10713219']
[quote name='FSCMatt' timestamp='1420774682' post='10713123']
Not to dumb down this topic, but space is awesome.
[/quote]

Check it, yo.

New theories suggest the big bang was not the beginning, and that we may live in the past of a parallel universe.

"This two-futures situation would exhibit a single, chaotic past in both directions, meaning that there would be essentially two universes, one on either side of this central state," Barbour says. "If they were complicated enough, both sides could sustain observers who would perceive time going in opposite directions. Any intelligent beings there would define their arrow of time as moving away from this central state. They would think we now live in their deepest past."

[url="http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/2-futures-can-explain-time-s-mysterious-past/"]http://www.scientifi...ysterious-past/[/url]
[/quote]
Read it and my brain hurts. It at least makes me smile to know that even the best minds we have don't really know either. Amazing universe, amazing world, amazing life!

[RJRJRJ]

For anyone wondering how big our Earth/Solar System is in relation to what else we know is out there, check out this huge wikipedia comparison pick:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b6/Earth%27s_Location_in_the_Universe_%28JPEG%29.jpg

And this is only what we KNOW is out there. Its absurd.

[Jseale]

A neighbor of mine had a model t when I was growing up. Henry Ford was an incredible designer. I'm looking at a copy of a painting called "The Golfer" in my living room right now. Norman Rockwell was a great artist. I look at the stars and the plants and the birds and the human body... Whoever designed and created them is beyond compare.

[Thrillhouse]

[quote name='hogans71' timestamp='1421190045' post='10741711']
I'm just freaked out by the fact that it goes on forever.

FOREVER. I mean, even if there was an end to it, there'd have to be something on the other side...

Freaky indeed.
[/quote]

On top of this based on one theory it just keeps getting bigger and bigger.

Really makes you wonder what existed before all of this. Was it really nothing? Like there was nothing and then all of a sudden an explosion and now all sorts of stuff?

That's crazy to think about, nothing existing at all.

[Thrillhouse]

I feel like, for a science person, reading my posts in this thread is a lot like watching a slow child struggle to open a snapple.

[RJRJRJ]

[quote name='Thrillhouse' timestamp='1421209072' post='10743521']
I feel like, for a science person, reading my posts in this thread is a lot like watching a slow child struggle to open a snapple.
[/quote]

What are you trying to say?

[Imp]

To get an idea in how big space is, I tell people to hold out their thumb and index finger like they're measuring something...

Divide that by a half. Divide that by a half. Divide that by a half. Keep going. You can always divide something by a half much like you can always multiply by two.

--kC

[MMB1500]

[quote name='RJRJRJ' timestamp='1421192594' post='10741975']
For anyone wondering how big our Earth/Solar System is in relation to what else we know is out there, check out this huge wikipedia comparison pick:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b6/Earth%27s_Location_in_the_Universe_%28JPEG%29.jpg

And this is only what we KNOW is out there. Its absurd.
[/quote]

Mind blowing for sure. That's a great diagram, thanks for posting.

Someone mentioned feeling humbled by space and I would certainly agree with that. I also find looking at the stars very much helps keeps certain life events in perspective. Things take on a new dimension when considered in the context of the universe as a whole and indeed our own minuscule and no doubt fleeting place within it.

[bscinstnct]

Reminds me of that pic

 

 

 

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/new-york-glows-stunning-high-altitude-night-views-n286546

[Jack Pearsall]

Jack Pearsall could hit a golf ball to Andromeda IF he hit in outer space AND he used a decent distance ball.