Thought you guys my be interesting in some incredible astronomy...

[M. Wolfe]

First is a view of the central galactic hub from earth. Basically we are looking into the centre of the milkyway.

Galactic hub in our sky. (http://vimeo.com/4505537)

The next puts into perspective how puny out own sun is compared to some that are out there.

Largest star known to man. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I34FNr_peUk)

It's cosmically humbling, isn't it!

[Long Duck Dong]

my world is so vast that if my mind was to expand to fully embrace it, it would take me a handful of lifetimes to find the boundaries... it is even more overwhelming to consider until i realise that I live on a world so vast and diverse, that the collective minds combined, will never understand it, but sit on a porch, watching the summers eve, drinking beer....and telling the dog off for farting

maybe I will start by thinking about how I can make somebody smile......

thank you for that wolfe.....its nice to think that there is something bigger in the universe than my ego :tong:

[M. Wolfe]

Your ego, yes well it was a stretch but I did indeed find something.

I've been transfixed by cosmology since I was 5 when I found a book in the attic called 'Cosmos' by Carl Sagan. That book for ever altered the course I my life.

[Realist]

That was interesting. A friend once showed me Betelgeuse on his powerful telescope and I thought it was the largest star. Thanks for clearing that up!

We really are insignificant little specks, aren't we?

[AlternatingRed]

What's so amazing is that we are constructed from the same stuff. We are the evolution of matter! The children of the stars. With our pathetic smallness, fleeting existence, ridiculous stupid human ways; we see, we feel, we think, we imagine, we love; we are the Universes ultimate creation; the summation of 14 billion years of the evolution of matter. Wow, now I feel humble.

[M. Wolfe]

What's so amazing is that we are constructed from the same stuff. We are the evolution of matter! The children of the stars. With our pathetic smallness, fleeting existence, ridiculous stupid human ways; we see, we feel, we think, we imagine, we love; we are the Universes ultimate creation; the summation of 14 billion years of the evolution of matter. Wow, now I feel humble.

All human politics/issues seems completely petty when viewed in this context.


Edit:Oh and there is also this little article on some photos of our sun.
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2009/05/15/check-this-out-amazing-photo-of-the-sun/


Edit: God. I just noticed how I screwed up the thread title. [face in hands]

[12voltman59]

Great stuff----thanks for posting it!

I do have to say--without going through all the ways that life came to be here on this planet--I don't think we are insignificant in that way---so many things had to fall into place for life to take hold on this little rock----I think there is great significance in that----

For the reason that I think that planets that life can take hold and is stable enough thanks to the nature of the planet itself, its star, its overall place in its galaxy, the place and nature of that galaxy---any planet that life can remain long enough to create a civilization----that planet is a special place--and a planet that is bound to capture the notice and interest of other planets that also developed an "advanced civilization" as well.

For that reason---I find it totally plausible that our planet has and is being visited by at least probes sent by another intelligent civilization--even if they don't necessarily recognize us as being all that developed or intelligent---even though--if the reports are true----the military bases where we have previously and currently house stockpiles of nuclear weapons----those locations do seem to have caught the interest of those ships or probes.

It does seem reasonable they would monitor such places and that they are actively studying the varied life forms on this planet and it seems---at least some of those other world "people" are studying us as well.

If we had found another planet with life and we could get there in other solar systems or galaxies---I am quite sure--we would at least send robotic probes to them--we already are sending such probes to Mars and other celestial bodies in our solar system that it is possible to send them to.

It is logical to assume that such visitations are at least probable to be taking place on our planet by probes or ships from other "advanced" civilizations.

[codybear3]

I got the "largest star" in an e-mail a while back, but this one with the music added to it made it more interesting... I have always been into the night sky and love using my telescope for my personal use as well as for keeping the kids interested in our universe... Thanks for sharing, M. Wolfe... :paw::paw:

[M. Wolfe]

I do have to say--without going through all the ways that life came to be here on this planet--I don't think we are insignificant in that way---so many things had to fall into place for life to take hold on this little rock----I think there is great significance in that----

Millions of years in the future, The milkyway will collide with Andromeda. There is every chance that our solar system could collide with another. However, this could happen anyway without Andromeda. If it were to happen, life of on this little pebble would be wiped out, we would be defenceless in sight of another star ploughing through this solarsystem either swallowing whole planets, or flinging them out into deepspace to freeze.

Doesn't have to be a star. Could be a Gamma Ray Burst, a comet, blackhole.... The list goes on and on.

Of all human folly, our belief that we are somehow special or unique is perhaps the greatest.

"Just my two cents" as they say.:2cents:

[12voltman59]

For a few years--I would spend my summer vacation time down on the Florida panhandle coast---in the Pt. St. Joe/Cape San Blas area out on Cape San Blas--a peninsula that sticks out into the Gulf of Mexico---at night--I would like to sit out on the deck of the house and watch the Milky Way transit the night sky---it was so inspiring--it is nice to have cities to do things in--but in the bargain of having our modern settlements with many conveniences---we have lost the view of the night sky---I do urge everyone---every so often---go way out in the country away from the city and 'burbs----go out in on a summer's eve and watch the Milky Way and the other stars---and be awed and amazed.

[FalconAngel]

Millions of years in the future, The milkyway will collide with Andromeda.


So set your Tivo's. :bigrin::tong::rotate:

[_Joe_]

And yet I still can't find the post office that services my neighborhood which is somewhere within 4 miles of me.

[altbinary]

Millions of years in the future, The milkyway will collide with Andromeda. There is every chance that our solar system could collide with another. However, this could happen anyway without Andromeda. If it were to happen, life of on this little pebble would be wiped out, we would be defenceless in sight of another star ploughing through this solarsystem either swallowing whole planets, or flinging them out into deepspace to freeze.

Doesn't have to be a star. Could be a Gamma Ray Burst, a comet, blackhole.... The list goes on and on.

I hope Al Gore knows about this. He'll know what to do.