APOD: The Scale of the Universe - Interactive (2018 Oct 07)

[APOD Robot]

The Scale of the Universe - Interactive

Explanation: What does the universe look like on small scales? On large scales? Humanity is discovering that the universe is a very different place on every proportion that has been explored. For example, so far as we know, every tiny proton is exactly the same, but every huge galaxy is different. On more familiar scales, a small glass table top to a human is a vast plane of strange smoothness to a dust mite -- possibly speckled with cell boulders. Not all scale lengths are well explored -- what happens to the smallest mist droplets you sneeze, for example, is a topic of active research -- and possibly useful to know to help stop the spread of disease. The featured interactive flash animation, a modern version of the classic video Powers of Ten, is a new window to many of the known scales of our universe. By moving the scroll bar across the bottom, you can explore a diversity of sizes, while clicking on different items will bring up descriptive information.

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[Astronymus]

No Flash allowed. It's 2018.

[Nobody Particular]

The first time that I‘m disappointed about APOD, what a strange idea to present something in flash format. Well at least they triggered me to write my first comment.

[DomeLord]

I quite like this offering apart from the very minor quibble about the suggested size of the electron but there again by its very nature it precludes accurate measurement. They could have maybe shown the possible range though.

At some point it will be realized by all that there is only one electron visiting & animating all levels of reality everywhere apart, of course, from so-called black matter. I'm not the first to suggest there's only one electron. Professor John Wheeler did but he immediately rejected the notion but he was right!! How else, for example, does one solve the EPR Paradox? It is simply not possible in this space/time continuum to be simultaneously the observer & the observed.

Btw, should anyone want to know more about the contents of the Planck Epoch, do please get back to me. Have a nice day.

You're welcome.

[heehaw]

I'm not the first to suggest there's only one electron. Professor John Wheeler did but he immediately rejected the notion but he was right!!

This is a nice new size-zoom, and it is indeed impressive how utterly fantastical is the range of size measurements: from the electron (no measurable size) to the universe itself (possibly infinite in size). But DomeLord is right, it distracts from the more fundamental fact that there aren't actually ANY 'things,' there are just measurements.

[DanP]

Fantastic job. Unfortunately the chosen Flash format makes it unavailable for those using Firefox or Chrome. I had to install Opera to see it.

[DomeLord]

Fantastic job. Unfortunately the chosen Flash format makes it unavailable for those using Firefox or Chrome. I had to install Opera to see it.

Interesting! I'm still staggering on with a steam driven Vista platform but Chrome on mine works the Flash format just fine.

[weinhous]

Flash? You've got to be kidding. Even Adobe is on its way to being rid of flash. I've long kept my computers flash-free because of the many security vulnerabilities of Flash.

[jedireez]

The total human height for 7 billion people is not 10 million km, it's ~10 billion km!

[neufer]

The total human height for 7 billion people is not 10 million km, it's ~10 billion km!

The total human height for 7 billion people is ~10 million km = 10 billion meters.

[Cousin Ricky]

I came here to complain about the Huangs having the audacity to estimate the size of the universe, and I find mostly complaints about Flash! Not that I find that odd in retrospect.

Flash works fine on my Firefox (Firefox Quantum Extended Support Release 60.2.2est (64-bit) Firefox for openSUSE Leap 15.0). I haven’t gotten rid of it because there is one site I visit regularly that still uses it. And no, that site is not skyandtelescope.com; I found an HTML5 planisphere elsewhere on the Web.

But, yeah. Firefox has a special jaundiced eye on Flash, and tolerates it only because so many people keep doing stuff like submitting Flash apps to APOD. Firefox summarily blocks Flash every time Mozilla gets wind of a security hole, and nobody gets to run it again until they install the patch.

For years I’ve had Firefox configured to give that one aforementioned site a pass, and ask me to activate flash ad hoc for all other sites. I almost never do so; I did today, just because it’s APOD.

[De58te]

Fantastic job. Unfortunately the chosen Flash format makes it unavailable for those using Firefox or Chrome. I had to install Opera to see it.

Windows 10, Google Chrome just blocked flash. All you had to do is to allow it by pressing allow.
By the way it must be awful being a Zeptometer. And I don't mean to belittle it.

[Chris Peterson]

No Flash allowed. It's 2018.

Well, it's a Sunday repeat, dating back to when flash was acceptable. But yeah, if the authors of this nice interactive tool want to keep an audience, they need to update the content to HTML5. An awful lot of people are locked out of this, or have to jump through too many hoops to make it worth their while.

[bystander]

Click to play embedded YouTube video.

[Ann]

Thanks, bystander. I wouldn't have been able to see the APOD if you hadn't posted the youtube video.

Ann

[Guest]

Flash? I can’t believe you are using this even though it’s been blocked by many browsers and all Apple products. Nothing is worth the security risk that program brings with it. Shame on you apod.

[cmo55]

Great job. Remember seeing 'power of ten' as a child. This presentation will be of use to me, as it gives me understanding of the values of displacement from the smallest to the largest measurements we, as humans, can comprehend. Now if I can just wrap my mind around the extremes; tough to imagine. This is a fantastic show of dedication and application of intelligence. thx, C.

[Case]

I notice Vega (located at 10^9.6 in the scale) is wobbly in the animation. Being wobbly doesn’t point to varying brightness, or bulging at the equator, or a debris cloud, which are known/implied characteristics of Vega.

[Case]

Click to play embedded YouTube video.

remember seeing 'power of ten' as a child.

Thank you Charles and Ray Eames.

[jedireez]

The total human height for 7 billion people is not 10 million km, it's ~10 billion km!

The total human height for 7 billion people is ~10 million km = 10 billion meters.

Ahh, I stand corrected...

[Ann]

I notice Vega (located at 10^9.6 in the scale) is wobbly in the animation. Being wobbly doesn’t point to varying brightness, or bulging at the equator, or a debris cloud, which are known/implied characteristics of Vega.

Hey, I noticed that Vega looked bluer in the animation than B-type Regulus and O-type Alnitak! Well, I'm sort of okay with that, because due to the fact that it is quite flattened and that we see it pole on, where it is hottest and bluest, Vega really is the most obviously blue-looking of the bright stars in the sky. Certainly through a telescope!

Ann

[Rusty Brown in Cda]

Lucky those who get to see this. My system says I need new Adobe Flash Player, which is not true. Thanks for nothing.

[Ann]

Lucky those who get to see this. My system says I need new Adobe Flash Player, which is not true. Thanks for nothing.

Check out bystander's post. There is a youtube video there that is the same as the APOD. You can watch it there.

Ann