Friday, 08 June 2012
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The Sun is REALLY REALLY REALLY BIG!!!
I just saw this picture and it sort of made me pause and just marvel at how amazing the Sun is.
You guys see that small black dot in the upper left portion? That is the PLANET Venus. Sort of gives you some perspective on just how enormous the Sun is. Could you imagine seeing this thing up close? Just imagine how you felt seeing the Empire State Building for the first time, then smack yourself in the face for even trying to compare the Empire State Building to the Sun.
Just an amazing photo, isn't it? Let me ask you guys, does this make you feel sort of insignificant in the grand scheme of things, or more like it is awe inspiring to be connected to something so grand?
Or do you not give a shit either way?
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Comments (12)
Honey Badger don't give a shit. But I am in awe.
super cool!
When I was a kid living in Denver in the 60s, we could see millions of stars and even a nebula or two with the naked eye. The night sky frightened me and made me feel small and insignificant. Same with fireworks. As an adult, however, I have adjusted my attitude and consider it God's gift to me. I am the Queen of the Sky and All It Contains. You just don't get much more special than that!
"Space is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-
bogglingly 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."
-- Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Venus would appear a whole lot smaller if it were actually on the surface of the sun.
Dear Dave,
Why that's just the transit of Venus, moving across the face of the sun, like it does each and every 350 or so years. This is so two days ago. Yawn.
Seriously, however, I read recently that Shuttle astronauts were encouraged to take time to look at the earth as it passed by below their spaceship, and some astronauts claimed they would stare for hours instead of doing other things like going to sleep, cause the view was so astounding and shall we say...cosmic.
Man is a small animal, but the "mind" is Universal.
The relative comparisons between cosmic phenomena have been explored brilliantly in art, literature, and film, as in the first scenes in Zemeckis' film "Contact" from 1997, for instance. The idea of the cosmic "smallness" of man is also illustrated in Thornton Wilder's play "Our Town" if memory serves. The idea is that we inhabit a town (or perhaps live in the Empire State building), which is in a country, part of the earth, which is part of the solar system, and then the galaxy, etc. etc, etc. reaching infinity and beyond. (sounds rather like a catch phrase in a Pixar film, I know.)
In fact, when I was in high school, I can still recall astronomer Carl Sagan describing the "billions and billions" of stars in the aptly named TV documentary series "Cosmos."
I tested this "smallness of man" when I first ingested acid back in the 70s...er...no.... I didn't mean that....when I looked out across the expanse of the Grand Canyon for the first time.
I like to tell people it's just a big hole in the ground....BUT WHAT A MAJESTIC HOLE IN THE GROUND it is!
Man is truly small. The sun isn't necessarily huge. It's a rather small star, compared to others in the universe, and (ssshhh, don't tell anyone) it's actually getting smaller.
But man, and the cosmos contains the DNA of the Universal Mind, that awe inspring connective tissue that involves and inundates us all. The "soul" as it were, of humankind, and of life, and of geology, cosmology, and dare I say it, religious beliefs across time and space.
I'm nearing my own 6th decade of life, and I still enjoy two times of each 24 hour period the best, the sunrise and the sunset. (which I've been calling "God's Movie" for decades...it always has the same "plot' and always "ends" the same, but it's always mesmerizing and spiritual to watch.)
Me thinks you had a bit of an epiphany when you saw this photo. I've been having them since childhood. The word "perspective" is delicious, too. Everything should always be experienced knowing that we only hole a certain perspective.
Now, excuse me, I 've got to go finishing listening to the latest Nicki MInaj album.
Michael F. Nyiri, poet, philosopher, fool
I wouldn't even compare it to the empire state...I feel insignificant and awed all at the same time, I was also bummed that it was cloudy and rainy here for the occassion =(
Wow, that's awesome! It's almost as big as the penis I had shoved down my throat last night!!
You think that's something, check this out!: http://quantrek.org/size_comparison/size_comparison.htm
I'm such a geek! Spent over 6 hours listening to astronomers babble on the live coverage of the Venus transit on Slooh.com It was really neat, people were calling in from observatories all over the world. Seemed to me like the Norwegians did the best job of any nation, closely followed by the Brits and Aussies. Our contingent on the volcano in Hawai'i were darned good, too. Of course, the Norwegians had the advantage of the "midnight sun" but I was amazed that, with all those old DEW-line sites, there weren't any observatories in northern Canada and Alaska taking part. Didn't the US gov't sell them, like they sold off so many of the airbases?
stuff like this always makes me think of that passage from ecclesiastes in the bible. it talks about how we are all just smoke. or grass that will whither away. we're so small the grand scheme of things. sometimes, that can be beautiful. othertimes, alarming...