The sun is very small, evidence

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/77483a1efe8e.gif[/atsimg]

You can see how small our star is, compared to other stars it is just mind boggling. This shows you some perspective, the Universe is truly vast and beautiful, some extremely massive and then some extremely small objects exists.

As we move forward, the Universe continually smashed our expectations. Just when we think something is the biggest object, we find bigger. Just when we think something is the smallest object, we find smaller, and smaller.

It is amazing, the never ending pursuit for knowledge. Everyone is wondering what is at the end, that is the question of this century. What is the biggest object, what is the smallest.

Some have accepted eternity, others have accepted a creator, but this question will haunt us until we figure it out. I have been thinking about it for too long, and am afraid that I might go crazy if we don't find the answers.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/324e6958e7f5.jpg[/atsimg]




Mod Note: After further research it was found that the other site had indeed copied from here and this very thread. And had included a very small link to this thread authored by confreak. I am deeply, deeply apologetic to any confusion that may have been caused and have fully restored this post as there was no plagiarism on the part of confreak.

That's a great GIF, it really helps to see everything in perspective! We really are small and insignificant in the overall scheme of the universe. Thanks for bringing this to my attention and to ATS!

BTW: Was the really creepy picture necessary?!

Nevermind.

If you think that's a head screw take a look at the overall relative size of the universe from the small to the massive:

primaxstudio.com...

The difference between stars is miniscule in comparison to the relative distance between quantum strings and an Ant.

Great thread.. I've seen this before, on a YouTube video... after a couple of pages after our sun, my brain can no longer comprehend the size of those other stars.. Damn the last one must be HUGE!!

As said before, just shows how small we are in comparison.. Although I wouldn't go as far as to call us insignificant.. I think everything has it's place in this universe..

It's like microbes and bacteria on earth.. Even down to the atom.. Might be small in comparison to us.. But they are still essential in the grand scheme of things..

Kinda curious if this is why ATS went down for a while... lol That's a 1.2 meg gif, my friend.

Ive seen the video of this. If I'm not mistaken, it was posted here before.

So if you look at the sizes then perhaps why a lot of advanced cultures dont visit us is that we are far to small to have been noticed or to bother about. The distances involved are also mind boggling to get to our closets galaxy you would need to be going at lightspeed for 2 million years. Something to think about

Just think.. VY Canis Majoris is just a tiny ant compared to other stars out there that we have not yet discovered.

Originally posted by Nuker
Just think.. VY Canis Majoris is just a tiny ant compared to other stars out there that we have not yet discovered.

I think not.

While indeed there may be and probably are larger stars than VY Canis Majoris, it doesn't seem likely that VY Canis Majoris will be like a tiny ant compared to them based on observations:

Study: Stars Have a Size Limit

Astronomers announced today that stars can be born big, but only so big....

Recent observations of a massive cluster of stars in the center of our galaxy has found that this mass cutoff is about 150 times the Sun....

the Arches Cluster is between 2 and 2.5 million years old. With Hubble's acute eye, Figer found stars there ranging in size from 2 to 130 solar masses.

"We expected to find 20 to 30 stars with masses between 130 and 1,000 solar masses," Figer said. "But we found none. If they could have formed, we would have seen them."

No one is yet sure what this physical barrier is. Woosley thought there were two likely scenarios: either something stops the star's growth early on, or the star forms, but its intense radiation causes it to blow apart.

Still, there may be stars that circumvent the 150 solar mass limit. For example, the mass-spewing Pistol star may weigh as much as 200 solar masses. One way to explain this apparent paradox, Figer said, is that the Pistol star could be a "born-again" star, formed from the merger of two smaller stars. This sort of formation mechanism would be very unusual, however.

"There is no star in the galaxy that credibly breaks the 150 solar mass limit," Figer said.

Another possibility that they didn't mention is, the possibility that if too much mass accumulates in one place, it could collapse into a black hole. But they really don't know why there appears to be an upper limit on stars, just that they have observed a lack of larger stars that they expected to find, but didn't find.

My only reposnse to this must be to say the following. While I agree that its true that in comparison to some of the examples provided , our star is rather a small gem on the velvet back drop of the universal jewllers window, I wonder if it is small in terms of the total number of different sizes of star that exist. The examples show us starkly , the difference that is possible between one star and another are enormous. But I would be very interested to know how our star rates against the majority of stars in the known universe in terms of size, shine,and a whole host of other interesting factors.

1 800 000 000 miles = 0.000306200571 lightyear

I remember seeing on TV where some astronomers think there could be stars out there that are half a lightyear across or maybe more. One single star twice the size of our whole solar system (sun to pluto). Now a sun that size could have a complete solar system in orbit around it and 100's if not 1000's of planets. Sizes of things in space is just beyond comprehension.

Mind boggling!

And thus I can justify eating a whole cake...

reply to post by confreak


That's AWESOME!!!

reply to post by TrueBrit


From whar I've read there should be way mor brown and red dwarf stars hanging out there it seems that the bigger the star the lower the numbers in exsistence.

reply to post by confreak


I am with you. I have always questioned the size of who we are our planet and the universe. Slightly related is the following video which takes a different approach to answering the size question.



If we have actual living creatures performing functions on our skins, it should stand to reason that there are much larger creatures in the universe. Or maybe our universe is just a part of something much larger that we have no concept about. These bugs probably have no clue about us.

As above so below and beyond I imagine. It's all just energy. At the sub atomic level particles exist as vibration. A wave, or frequency if you can imagine. Our perception is all derived from the same energy. The colors we see are just one part of a much larger spectrum. The notes in the musical scale are just another part of the same spectrum. We are all apart of the same energy. Some call it god, but there is an old saying. Give it a name. I call it life.

reply to post by Sinter Klaas

Like those solar system size stars that show talked about. If they do exist they can no be many of them and they have to be very far way or we would have found them by now I think.

reply to post by confreak


I remember reading somewhere years ago that Earth could fit inside the Sun around a million times, and the Sun could fit inside Betelgeuse around a million times. Whaaaaaat? That kinda put things way into perspective. But that was before I had heard of Canis Majoris.
In the great big scheme of things, we ( planet Earth) are but a microbe in a giants tummy!!

Neat stuff and now we are armed with a telescope, things will become even more ' clear '. All going well with the instruction manual they will.

reply to post by confreak


Excellent graphic. Really puts 'our' relative size into perspective!

It's truly mind boggling. And I thought I was "all that and more".
I'll just go back to eating my pudding now.