I was watching "How the Universe Works" last night and literally had a moment where I realized I did not comprehend the immensity of what they were talking about...nor did I have any desire to. I don't think i've ever heard something scientific and thought "I literally cannot comprehend the scale of that." The below set of pictures walks you through that moment.
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| Jupiter Moon System |
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| Solar System (see jupiter?) |
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| See what we are? (lower center of picture) |
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| Galaxy Cluster (one of those little dots might be the Milky Way! |
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| Universe (The lightest points are galaxy clusters or multiple galaxy clusters) |
Above is a computer simulation of the Universe. Not the galaxy, not the solar system, not a galaxy cluster...the universe. In case you didn't know, much like how moons cluster around planets and planets cluster around stars, Stars cluster around black holes to form galaxies (like the Milky Way) and even galaxies cluster to form galaxy clusters. Well...even those galaxy clusters seem to form around other galaxy clusters and so on, eventually resulting in this enormous web that connects these clusters of galaxy clusters and dark matter. If you're lost...don't worry, I am to. Those little points of light are apparently massive clusters of galaxies and dark matter, linked together by strings of dark matter and galaxy clusters, funneling matter into said clusters of galaxies, enlarging said clusters and galaxies.
In other words...this.
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| And each one of those little dots in the last picture is a galaxy containing BILLIONS of stars, TRILLIONS of planets, and countless moons and asteroids. |
WOWZERS!
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