This is amazing.
Read the “Pictures capture a billion stars” article here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17539315
Then check out the viewer…
http://djer.roe.ac.uk/vsa/vvv/iipmooviewer-2.0-beta/vvvgps5.html
Using this technology, features like blood vessels or tree roots begin to emerge.
If you look closely, you can see Tatooine in the right middle third.
Humbling, ain’t it?
Yes Walter it is…most don’t realize how tiny we really are especially these days !
Nice Jon
That is very cool.
There may be a billion planets out there capable of supporting life
Ralph
What really gets me is the patters, that look like flowing water or blood vessels, or plant roots. At certain zoom levels the dark areas look like lakes.
I’ve always been of the opinion that the entire universe is inside a bell jar on some scientists desk in another dimension. Looking at this composite makes me feel that starts are like the atoms in something very very large and everything else are sub-atomic particles.
Contemplating the night sky has always boggle my mind. A few adult beverages, a recliner and a warm and clear evening is the recipe for a very relaxing time.
Jon Radder said:And here I thought it was in a cats collar. But this does boggle the mind looking at what is really out there. Thanks for posting it Jon
I've always been of the opinion that the entire universe is inside a bell jar on some scientists desk in another dimension. Looking at this composite makes me feel that starts are like the atoms in something very very large and everything else are sub-atomic particles.
Dave Marconi said:[b]Have you ever thought though that the entire universe might be contained in a single porcelain bowl in another much larger dimension.......and about to be flushed?[/b] :o :)Jon Radder said:And here I thought it was in a cats collar. But this does boggle the mind looking at what is really out there. Thanks for posting it Jon
I've always been of the opinion that the entire universe is inside a bell jar on some scientists desk in another dimension. Looking at this composite makes me feel that starts are like the atoms in something very very large and everything else are sub-atomic particles.
Richard Smith said:[b]Have you ever consider3ed that this all just might be someone's 8th Grade science fair project? :P[/b]Dave Marconi said:[b]Have you ever thought though that the entire universe might be contained in a single porcelain bowl in another much larger dimension.......and about to be flushed?[/b] :o :)Jon Radder said:And here I thought it was in a cats collar. But this does boggle the mind looking at what is really out there. Thanks for posting it Jon
I've always been of the opinion that the entire universe is inside a bell jar on some scientists desk in another dimension. Looking at this composite makes me feel that starts are like the atoms in something very very large and everything else are sub-atomic particles.
I’ll be so glad when I get my finger out of thi9s splint!
To steal from Chuang Tzu, I do not even know whether I am a butterfly dreaming I am a man…
But it all looks as though it’s spinning down the drain plughole to me…
Hi Guys:
I am not completely accurate, but from rough memory this is just OUR Galaxy: the Milky Way in which our ball EARTH resides and our Solar system’s SUN rotates about the centre of our galaxy, the Milky Way Galaxy.
There are “x” number of other galaxies in the Universe which have been telescoped and mapped from our ball EARTH.
The combination of all of these separate galaxies, including the Milky Way, rotate about a common centre of gravity point of the Universe.
Each of these separate galaxies have their own centre point of gravity rotation.
It is all totally midblowing and totally fascinating.
How can there be a start to time? How can there be a physical end to the Universe’s limits? How is space created? Is space limitless? How can space be limitless?
The book, “The Layman’s Guide to the Theory of Relativity” , available in paperback , is another great read which deals with our everyday wrong concepts of time and space.
There must be a professional astronomer in our midst who can correct my mistakes and elaborate.
Is there other life in the universe? There must be multiple planets with life in our galaxy and the other galaxies. But what form of life is it? Dinosaurs as previously existed on our planet or life forms more evolved than the human species?
Due to commuting distances, we will never know!
All cool stuff and I thought the multiple scales used in largescale was complicated!
Norman
The one thing that you wrote that has most relevance is that for sure we’ll never know.
Unless there IS a form of motion that is not subject to the laws of physics as WE understand them to be, that is to say, the finite speed of light at 186,000 mps/300,000kps, even our closed possible neighbour on a similar-type planet is impossibly too far away to make contact - even supposing they would want to to do so.
Would you?
tac, ig and the This is all there is, Boys
This is just the Milky Way, our galaxy, if you look at the myriad of background stars at the top, bottom and sides then realize most of those ‘stars’ are actually other galaxies, then you kinda start to get an idea of how vast the universe is.
In a way this kinda reminds me of the Total Perspective Vortex in THHGTTG, is which a subject’s mind (usually a condemned prisoner) is plugged into the device, then is given a brief yet complete in total view of the entire universe in all it vastness and complexity, along with small wholly insignificant sign designating “you are here” the result is the mind is utterly overwhelmed and destroyed by the process.
Hi tac and others:
The commuting distance is exactly my point. Why do folks still persist in claims of alien space ships visiting Earth? This is an impossibilty.
Anyone know how many galaxies have been mapped by the observatories ?
The images we see of far off stars are not present day reality but rather are “historical images” millions of years old as for instance if a star is one million light years away then it took one million earth years for those particles of light comprising that star image to reach the observer here at Earth.
There is no way that aliens would take a space voyage to Earth of one million Earth years assuming that the alien craft was able to travel at light speed and that the craft was not smashed to pieces when hitting even minute particles of space grit while travelling at the speed of light.
So obviously, our Earth never has been nor ever will be visited by a life form of another planet from wherever in our Galaxy or the Universe.
Still the Star Trek and Star Wars concepts sure made for fun movie watching.
Star Wars: " In a galaxy far, far away" Ya, no kidding!
Norman
Norman Bourgault said:
Hi tac and others:The commuting distance is exactly my point. Why do folks still persist in claims of alien space ships visiting Earth? This is an impossibilty.
Anyone know how many galaxies have been mapped by the observatories ?
The images we see of far off stars are not present day reality but rather are “historical images” millions of years old as for instance if a star is one million light years away then it took one million earth years for those particles of light comprising that star image to reach the observer here at Earth.
There is no way that aliens would take a space voyage to Earth of one million Earth years assuming that the alien craft was able to travel at light speed and that the craft was not smashed to pieces when hitting even minute particles of space grit while travelling at the speed of light.
So obviously, our Earth never has been nor ever will be visited by a life form of another planet from wherever in our Galaxy or the Universe.
Still the Star Trek and Star Wars concepts sure made for fun movie watching.
Star Wars: " In a galaxy far, far away" Ya, no kidding!
Norman
Wormhole space jumps, time/space warp drive, other FTL drives are theoreticly acheivable, its just the energy and science needed is about a few centuries away.
Personally I doubt interstellar transportation will ever be practical, any such trips would be mostly one way colonist voyages. Early interplanetary and interstellar travel will be like the early explorers plying the seas in Carracks and Galleons, slow ponderous vessels requiring months or years to reach there destinations, even as recently as a century ago travel was measured in weeks and months, its only since the 1960’s that international travel began to be measured in hours. Also so far although the galaxy seams to choke full of planets, none of them are (so far) habitable. That really cuts the likelyhood of interstellar colonization being an easy proposition, any candidate planets will likely be few and very far between.
Victor Smith said:Victor, They now think there may be billions of habitable planets. There are billions of stars, and most of those stars have planets in a temperature range that could possibly support life. Ralph
full of planets, none of them are (so far) habitable.
Of course all those planets are still going to need some form of FTL travel lest it take generations to travel between them. One big question I have is so we find a planet thats habitable what happens to any indigenous lifeforms, do we treat any planets as protected habitates or will we slash and burn and kill all the indians.
I’ll settle for FTL communications. Scientific and cultural trade! And that damned alien music (“Shut up that damn Atlarian music you kids!!!”)