Our Universe (Big Picture Warning!)

[knowledgegranted]

I'm not really sure how many people know the true size of the Universe we currently float in, and I didn't really know it was this big until a few minutes ago. I knew the size of the universe itself, but not other planets within it. The video is really cool and will explain something a little later in this giant photo.

oAVjF_7ensg

http://www.funnyphotos.net.au/images/how-small-we-are1.jpg

[SXRguyinMA]

nice vid. I posted that pic up here awhile back :up:

[knowledgegranted]

nice vid. I posted that pic up here awhile back :up:

Ah, damn sorry for repeat post then.

[SXRguyinMA]

its all good, I havent seen that vid before :bowdown:

[mDust]

Our solar system is nothing, our planet is nothing, our species is nothing, our cultures are nothing, our technology is nothing, and most importantly--our damn REALITY TV is NOTHING! That's the message I got at least...
Isn't that the point of all this?:D

[DaveW]

Our solar system is nothing, our planet is nothing, our species is nothing, our cultures are nothing, our technology is nothing, and most importantly--our damn REALITY TV is NOTHING!

Speak for yourself, I'm awesome. ;)

-Dave

[slaveofconvention]

Space is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind- bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist's, but that's just peanuts to space.

Nuff said heh ;)

[mDust]

Speak for yourself, I'm awesome. ;)

-Dave

I forgot about that:facepalm:...with the exception of DaveW and anyone else who is also awesome, our solar system and it's contents are nothing.

[DaveW]

:D

-Dave

[SXRguyinMA]

lol

[BuzzKillington]

This is why it's frustrating that people think we're the only living creatures in this uni-.....multiverse.

At this point I wouldn't doubt if we were some 5 year old gleepglop's science project.

[Mark_Hardware]

Kinda makes you wonder what the point of it all is..... The greatest things we could ever possibly do still doesn't mean diddly when you look at the big picture. We are smaller than the tiniest speck, floating around out here

[knowledgegranted]

I wish the world could somehow come together as one and develop instead of individual groups. Imagine what we could do if we took China's, United States', United Kingdom's, Russia's and Germany's space programs and put them all together.

[mDust]

Kinda makes you wonder what the point of it all is...Nope. We already know that the point of our planet's existence is to get that 5 year old Gleepglop an A on it's science project.

I somehow think that the 'look but don't touch' rule regarding everything outside our solar system will remain in effect for at least a thousand years yet. Unless a genius comes forward to design some technology that allows us to instantaneously 'blink' to wherever we want to go, hundreds of generations of courageous space explorers will be born and die (in mission) before they can get to the nearest stars.
It took ~35 years to get past the Kuiper belt, so another star is laughably out of the question...even with the newest propulsion technology.:(

[knowledgegranted]

Nope. We already know that the point of our planet's existence is to get that 5 year old Gleepglop an A on it's science project.

I somehow think that the 'look but don't touch' rule regarding everything outside our solar system will remain in effect for at least a thousand years yet. Unless a genius comes forward to design some technology that allows us to instantaneously 'blink' to wherever we want to go, hundreds of generations of courageous space explorers will be born and die (in mission) before they can get to the nearest stars.
It took ~35 years to get past the Kuiper belt, so another star is laughably out of the question...even with the newest propulsion technology.:(

Actually, I very much doubt that. Right now, they are working on microwave propulsion in a laboratory in Germany. This technology can supposedly takes us to mars in 19 days. Yeah, might be a long trip, but I'll volunteer. :D

[mDust]

Actually, I very much doubt that. Right now, they are working on microwave propulsion in a laboratory in Germany. This technology can supposedly takes us to mars in 19 days. Yeah, might be a long trip, but I'll volunteer. :DWhile that's incredibly faster than I figured, it doesn't make it much easier to get to the edges of our solar system or possible to get to the nearest star. The math is below. (All trips are calculated for 1 way only...double it if you want the explorers to make it home.)

[shortest distance between Mars/Earth in miles]/[days]=[average miles per day]
36,000,000 / 19 = 1,894,736.84

[average distance to kuiper belt]/[propulsion speed]=[days to get there]or[years]
4,647,794,380 / 1,894,736.84 = 2,453 or 6.7 years
6.7 years to get to the edge of our solar system.
[miles in a lightyear]x[lightyears to Proxima Centauri]=[mind boggling number of miles]
5,865,696,000,000 x 4.3 = 25,222,492,800,000
Over 25.2 trillion miles to nearest star!
[miles to Proxima Centauri]/[new propulsion speed]=[days to get there]or[years to get there]
25,222,492,800,000 / 1,894,736.84 = 13,311,871.21 or 36,470.88
It would take 36,471 years to get to the closest star with current technology!
[years to get to Proxima Centauri]/[procreation at age 30]=[generations that would live and die on a 1 way trip]
36,470.88 / ~30 = 1216
1215 brave space faring explorers would be born into this mission on a 1 way trip!
As far as our current observation technology tells us, Proxima Centauri does not have any large orbiting bodies, so it would be a hell of a trip for basically nothing. The tenth closest star, Epsilon Eridani, does have a planet!

[miles to Epsilon Eridani]/[speed]=[days to get there]or[years]or[generations]
61589808000000 / 1,894,736.84 = 32,505,732 or 89,057 or 2969
It would take 89,057 years to get to the nearest alien planet, and 2968 brave space explorers would be born into this 1 way mission!
Hopefully there's something awesome there to be discovered...
The only way to cut back on the number of generations born and dying of old age during the trip would be cryogenics, but has that ever been successful other than in movies?

Basically, these missions would get about a quarter of the way to their destinations and a USS Enterprise looking beast of a ship would exit a wormhole next to them, beam them on board, finish the mission, complete 2 or 3 more missions near other stars and return to earth before dinner...:banana:

[knowledgegranted]

My mistake on the 19 days, I actually think it was 39; which makes all those numbers even larger!

[BuzzKillington]

I wish the world could somehow come together as one and develop instead of individual groups.

No thanks. I'm already having nightmares about Canada the US and Mexico merging.

[mDust]

No thanks. I'm already having nightmares about Canada the US and Mexico merging.
No me gusta Spanglish, eh! If they do merge, you could always volunteer all of your future generations to make the trip to Epsilon Eridani...somebody has to go! If certain other conditions are met, I might be in the seat next to you. Let Earth have it's infinitesimal problems! :)