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NASA Image Shows Earth Between the Rings of Saturn

nasa.gov

61–70 of 97 posts

Re: NASA Image Shows Earth Between the Rings of Saturn

#61
post #27

That tiny little speck in that endless blackness is us. All of the human race living on this tiny rock fighting over who owns which piece of land and whose religion is most peaceful. All the world leaders should be spent to space to understand how insignificant we are and how petty and insignificant our disagreements are.

This comment leaves me in a void state. There's so much emptiness.The density of our population in a metropolitan city, is insignificant when you think of it at the scale of space. I just picture me as one of trillions of rocks going around at an extreme velocity around the Saturn ring. Each rock represents a violent pass of this galaxy. We also know there's a black hole in the center of this galaxy, let alone we hav…

> Going to M31 would probably take at least 10M years at 60mph.

This is a drastic underestimate. Going to M31 would take about 10M years at one-fifth the speed of light (since M31 is about 2M light years away). One-fifth the speed of light is 37,256 miles per second, or about 134 million miles per hour. So at 60 mph, it would take about 2 million times longer, or about 20 trillion years.

Re: NASA Image Shows Earth Between the Rings of Saturn

#63

Makes me think of The Expanse series ( http://www.jamessacorey.com/ ). Hard sci-fi, no warp/ftl, no artificial gravity, etc; all takes place within the solar system.

It's probably the best show the SyFy channel has ever aired: http://www.syfy.com/theexpanse

Re: NASA Image Shows Earth Between the Rings of Saturn

#65
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So size is the most critical aspect of significance?

Excellent observation. Most critical? Maybe not. But it is undoubtedly very much a significant and underrecognized factor. The Overview Effect is a real thing: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overview_effect

I agree with other commenter that the overview effect is real but an error. Just because earth is smaller than Saturn doesn't make it insignificant, or make our concerns - wars, religions, reality TV and all - petty. There is absolutely nothing of significance in Saturn that compares to what we have on earth. Significance can't even exist without life.

Re: NASA Image Shows Earth Between the Rings of Saturn

#66
post #61
post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This comment leaves me in a void state. There's so much emptiness.The density of our population in a metropolitan city, is insignificant when you think of it at the scale of space. I just picture me as one of trillions of rocks going around at an extreme velocity around the Saturn ring. Each rock represents a violent pass of this galaxy. We also know there's a black hole in the center of this galaxy, let alone we hav…

> Going to M31 would probably take at least 10M years at 60mph. This is a drastic underestimate. Going to M31 would take about 10M years at one-fifth the speed of light (since M31 is about 2M light years away). One-fifth the speed of light is 37,256 miles per second, or about 134 million miles per hour. So at 60 mph, it would take about 2 million times longer, or about 20 trillion years.

Thanks. I think I did the calculation wrong.

Re: NASA Image Shows Earth Between the Rings of Saturn

#67
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So size is the most critical aspect of significance?

Excellent observation. Most critical? Maybe not. But it is undoubtedly very much a significant and underrecognized factor. The Overview Effect is a real thing: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overview_effect

Intoxication is real as well, but I rarely apply any of my drunken epiphanies when sober.

Re: NASA Image Shows Earth Between the Rings of Saturn

#69

Anyone else recently read that there may be the possibility of life on Saturn's moon Enceladus within it's hydrothermal vents?

He is a heretic, claiming there is not a giant eye watching us behind the crystal sky. To the sulphur stake with him.

Re: NASA Image Shows Earth Between the Rings of Saturn

#70

That's here. That's home. That's us. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pale_Blue_Dot

And interestingly, this is the second great 'putting things in perspective' shot taken by Cassini.

The first: https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/resources/5915/

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