Scale of Universe

I'd love to see a case study or profile of the creation of this. Over the last 10 years and in multiple communities, I've seen the underlying Flash animation to this appear and do well every single time. It must be one of the most seen Flash animations ever, yet it continues to do well every time despite being very simply produced.

Re: Scale of Universe

#5

Post by roopeshv » Fri, Feb 10, 2012, 6:09 PM UTC

On topic of scales. http://blog.visual.ly/12-visualizations-that-will-change-the...

Re: Scale of Universe

#6

Post by smackay » Fri, Feb 10, 2012, 6:51 PM UTC

This really needs forward and reverse play buttons to allow you just sit and try and comprehend what is zooming before your eyes.

Re: Scale of Universe

#7

Post by cryptoz » Fri, Feb 10, 2012, 7:33 PM UTC

"We're probably not in the center of the universe"

The way I understood things, there is no center of the universe. Or equivalently, all points in the universe have a view such that it appears that you are in the center of the universe. The universe is spacetime itself, and the idea of a center requires an idea of space outside of spacetime, no?

Re: Scale of Universe

#8

Post by jessriedel » Fri, Feb 10, 2012, 8:21 PM UTC

cryptoz wrote: post #7

"We're probably not in the center of the universe" The way I understood things, there is no center of the universe. Or equivalently, all points in the universe have a view such that it appears that you are in the center of the universe. The universe is spacetime itself, and the idea of a center requires an idea of space outside of spacetime, no?

Nobody knows what the topology of the universe is, nor, contrary to this animation, does anyone have a reliable estimate for the size of the universe (as opposed to just the observable universe). It might be infinite, or it might be just slightly larger than the observable universe.

But yes, all current models of the universe are homogeneous; no point is more central than any other point. It doesn't have to be this way, but it's the simplest assumption.

Re: Scale of Universe

#9

Post by cannuk » Fri, Feb 10, 2012, 8:27 PM UTC

radley wrote: post #2

Great piece - just wish I could control the audio volume. Curious if HTML5 can do this yet...

First thing I thought, "I wonder how I could port this to canvas"

Re: Scale of Universe

#10

Post by victork2 » Fri, Feb 10, 2012, 8:39 PM UTC

jessriedel wrote: post #8

cryptoz wrote: post #7

"We're probably not in the center of the universe" The way I understood things, there is no center of the universe. Or equivalently, all points in the universe have a view such that it appears that you are in the center of the universe. The universe is spacetime itself, and the idea of a center requires an idea of space outside of spacetime, no?

Nobody knows what the topology of the universe is, nor, contrary to this animation, does anyone have a reliable estimate for the size of the universe (as opposed to just the observable universe). It might be infinite, or it might be just slightly larger than the observable universe. But yes, all current models of the universe are homogeneous; no point is more central than any other point. It doesn't have to be this w…

"Yes and no". The universe is not homogeneous on a large scale, there are filaments of galaxies and everything but yes the idea of the center of the universe does not correspond to anything. The Big Bang from current models happened everywhere and the expansions comes from the fact that the very "fabric" of the universe expands.

But there are some awesome implications of an infinite universe, take a look here if you are interested:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiverse#Level_I:_Beyond_our_...