Onelargeprawn
The interactive Scale of the Universe shows us how minuscule and gargantuan elements in our universe can be. But just how do we go about measuring the distances from the Earth to these celestial bodies? This charming animated short from the Royal Observatory Greenwich answers that question, explaining the concepts with easy, familiar analogies.
[via Brain Pickings]
We’ve seen enough documentaries to know that the universe is rather large. These shows have compared the relative sizes of the planetary bodies in our solar system and taken us on trips to distant worlds in outer space. And projects like THINGS (The HI Nearby Galaxy Survey) have gone to great ends to catalogue the galaxies that have been observed thus far.
The Scale of the Universe is an informative Flash that shows the universe from the tiniest particles at fractions of a yoctometre (10-24 of a metre) to humans to giant nebulas that look like testicles to the very edge of what we can observe, many many gigaparsecs away.
Take that intergalactic trip in fullscreen here.
The animation was created by a 14-year-old Cary Huang, with help from his twin brother Michael.
[via PS3ZA]
After a much need 1 billion dollar refurbishment in May, the 19-year old Hubble space telescope has been made more powerful and able to peer even deeper into the cosmos. And last week, NASA shared the some breathtaking deep space photos taken by Hubble since the repair. Take a look at some of the galactic images after the jump.