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How Big is Space?

bbc.com

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Re: How Big is Space?

#11

Post by scrumper »

Cookingboy wrote: post #7

One thing that bothers me is that charts/apps like this have to use logarithmic scale due to obvious reasons, but log scale is just not very effective for most people to comprehend on an intuitive level. In the last section each pixel is 1,000,000km, and the first section each pixel represents 1 meter, but experience wise it doesn't make the last section feel that much bigger, and I still have to keep looking at the…

I can envision a kind of zooming out effect when you cross a scale boundary, which might have made this clearer and more intuitive.

Re: How Big is Space?

#12

Post by tectec »

Cookingboy wrote: post #7

One thing that bothers me is that charts/apps like this have to use logarithmic scale due to obvious reasons, but log scale is just not very effective for most people to comprehend on an intuitive level. In the last section each pixel is 1,000,000km, and the first section each pixel represents 1 meter, but experience wise it doesn't make the last section feel that much bigger, and I still have to keep looking at the…

The sine wave down the middle of the page helps with visualizing the changing scale. If you want a linear scale, maybe you will appreciate this page: http://joshworth.com/dev/pixelspace/pixelspace_solarsystem.h...

Re: How Big is Space?

#13

Post by zem »

neilellis wrote: post #2

"Space is big. Really 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, but that's just peanuts to space." Wanted to be the first :-)

yeah, the title was practically a setup for that :)

Re: How Big is Space?

#16

Post by imaginenore »

amelius wrote: post #4
neilellis wrote: post #2

"Space is big. Really 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, but that's just peanuts to space." Wanted to be the first :-)

What do you mean? Clearly our own personal reality is happening within 1 scrollbar-handle-height, and the whole of space is about 20 scrollbar-handle-heights, so space can't be that big...

On a log scale. 20 orders of magnitude is f*ing huge.

It's way bigger than the difference between having one penny in you account and having all the money in the world.

Re: How Big is Space?

#17

Post by marcosdumay »

Cookingboy wrote: post #7

One thing that bothers me is that charts/apps like this have to use logarithmic scale due to obvious reasons, but log scale is just not very effective for most people to comprehend on an intuitive level. In the last section each pixel is 1,000,000km, and the first section each pixel represents 1 meter, but experience wise it doesn't make the last section feel that much bigger, and I still have to keep looking at the…

It's worth to do a linear scale miniature of the solar system.

At the 1:10^9 scale, it fits well within a farm or a big park, all the planets are at a viable size, and the Sun is not too big.

Re: How Big is Space?

#19

Post by jerf »

Not sure why this goes with "Warp 1" when "Warp 1" is the speed of light, something that even a casual Trek fan may very well be unaware of, to say nothing of the general public.

Re: How Big is Space?

#20

Post by zatkin »

imaginenore wrote: post #16
amelius wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you mean? Clearly our own personal reality is happening within 1 scrollbar-handle-height, and the whole of space is about 20 scrollbar-handle-heights, so space can't be that big...

On a log scale. 20 orders of magnitude is f *ing huge. It's way bigger than the difference between having one penny in you account and having all the money in the world.

What about the difference between having one IPv6 address and having all IPv6 addresses?
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