talkmagic.co.uk

Have a look at the whole cosmos from the largest to the smallest in scale:

http://www.nikon.com/about/feelnikon/un ... ndex_f.htm

That's awesome. Here's something else that's mind blowing.: the nano-nano scale (a billionth of a billionth of real sizes).

If the Earth was as big as a single atom:

The solar system would be too small to see.
The speed of light would be 3/8 inch per year, three feet per century, or six miles per million years.
The nearest star, Alpha Centauri, would be one and a half inches away.
Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky, would be three inches away.
The stars in the Plough would range from two to four feet away.
The North Star, would be thirteen feet away.
The Milky Way would be half a mile wide.
The nearest galaxy, Andromeda, would be a mile wide and seventeen miles away.
The next nearest galaxies are a group of six called Sculptor, and would be 60 miles away.
There are 50-100 billion galaxies within a distance of 72,000 to 96,000 miles away. Light from this far away has been travelling since the big bang.

As Douglas Adams said, space is really big.

was this thing powered from a small piece of Fairycake?

I feel so insignificant now.

daleshrimpton wrote:was this thing powered from a small piece of Fairycake?

I feel so insignificant now.

Weird, innit. It's probably the closest thing possible to a Total Perspective Vortex.

I'm afraid I couldn't get on with the Nikon site very well, although it did look interesting. Maybe I'm just not in the mood this morning to figure out how to work it properly.

Reminded me of the classic film and book "Powers of Ten". Here's the official website, but you have to register to see the film. It's also viewable on YouTube without the need to register.

Robbie wrote:I'm afraid I couldn't get on with the Nikon site very well, although it did look interesting. Maybe I'm just not in the mood this morning to figure out how to work it properly.

Reminded me of the classic film and book "Powers of Ten". Here's the official website, but you have to register to see the film. It's also viewable on YouTube without the need to register.

Wow! I remember them showing that on Blue Peter in the '70s! It blew my tiny kiddie mind.

That thing is great. Hours of entertainment!

Well, they got Billion right (but spelt Metre wrong by a milliard miles)