Does anyone know how small we are in the universe?

Question

The Millenium Simulation was completed in 2007 by a group of astronomers. It covers billions of light years in distance and approximately 20 billion galaxies.

Here are three high quality videos of it:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7709276714803270809&q=millenium+simulation&total=33&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0

http://video.yahoo.com/video/play?vid=1084757813&fr=yfp-t-501

Here is the original site:

http://www.pparc.ac.uk/Nw/millennium_sim.asp

http://video.yahoo.com/video/play?vid=1084757813&fr=yfp-t-501




The simulation is an accurate reproduction of 20 million galaxies, comprising only a small part of the observable universe. Each point of light is a galaxy made up of billions of stars.

Does anyone feel as awed by this as I do? Earth is so small on the scale of things, a mere speck of dust. I'm curious if this influences your perspective at all, especially if you are religious.

Answer 1

I'm glad you decided to post this and your question is highly relevant to my perspective.

For years I have been independently studying and observing religious and philosophical ideologies in hopes of coming to my own conclusions of what I believe. What I rather quickly determined was that all religions introduce restriction. So many of them are unilateral or bilateral in that they present you with one or two possibilities for your existence and then that's the end of it. What I learned to have hope and ultimately faith in was the boundlessness and unlimited possibility of the Universe. I'm an atheist but I by no means hang my hat on that title, really, I'm rather indifferent to the existence of god. What I believe in is that this huge planet we live in is just as you put it, a speck of dust. For some reason some people are discouraged by that, they think it means their existence is less significant. I however find that liberating, that my mind, a speck of dust on a speck of dust isn't even the beginning of things.

So yes, boundlessness and unlimited possibility completely influence my perspective. When you really think about unrestricted absolute freedom without any boundary it is a powerful feeling.

Answer 2

>Looking back in time, why do we not see a smaller universe? Because looking back in time is the same thing as looking farther in space. The oldest objects we see are also the most distant for the simple reason that it took light longer to travel from the more distant objects. This is exactly what we would expect under relativity and the Big Bang model. If it helps, consider that billions of years ago, those same objects would have appeared much closer, even if they had already emitted the light we are seeing now. Or to put it another way, the light emitted by sufficiently close objects sufficiently long ago has already passed by us; all the light we see now MUST be light that took this long to reach us, i.e. it must come from sufficiently distant objects sufficiently recently. And where 'sufficiently recently' is a very long time, the objects must be correspondingly distant in order that that light only now reaches us. >If everything began at a central point It...didn't really. I mean, you could say it did, but you have to remember that at that time, that point was 'everywhere'. The Big Bang was not an explosion of energy moving outwards through preexisting space, rather it constituted an expansion of space itself (which incidentally had the effect of causing energy to spread out). >If the Big Bang theory is true, shouldn't we be looking at a very small universe toward the beginning? We are. It just looks far away because the light we see has to have taken this long to reach us. We always see whatever is at the right place at the right time for us to see it right now, based on the relationship between time and distance. >so matter magically traveled billions or trillions of light-years in a fraction of a second? No. It stayed exactly where it was while the space between bits of it expanded by billions of times in a fraction of a second. Which in a sense is even more strange than what you're suggesting. Nevertheless, that is what seems to have happened, or else the Universe would look different now from how it actually looks.

Answer 3

I doubt the religious would understand what they're looking at AND they're extremely good at compartmentalising; any 'evidence' is filtered through what they DO 'know' which is that Genesis is true.

Coupla weeks ago I was listening to a science programe and it was asked if all those colours were true - wasn't it just computer inspired random colouring.
Yes it's true - all those colours are what are recorded as each gas throws off a different colour.

I found that little video extremely interesting and maybe equating earth as a speck of dust in the universe is as close to accurate as we could imagine; our planet is rather minor in the scheme of things; to believe that 'god' made all that to in some way support our planet is slightly arrogant and totally insane.

Answer 4

Nature is stunning. The absolute vastness of space is beyond conventional understanding and can only be represented in a mathematical way.

I am an atheist and appreciate the universe for itself.

I love this sort of thing and view a new Astronomical Picture of the Day every day on:-

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html

Answer 5

It is not possible for any of us to comprehend our smallness---we all have an ego.

I am sorta religious---a weird blend of Christianity and Judaism---but I vividly recall a scene in Chaim Potok's masterpiece of a book, "The Chosen," where our hero's father who just suffered a near-fatal heart attack explains why he is working hard on a cause he believes in.

"Our life is the blink of an eye. It is nothing. But the eye that blinks, THAT is something. My life may be meaningless, but it is my job to try to fill that life with meaning." (paraphrased)

All of Chaim Potok's books are great---any used-book store should have a couple, "The Chosen" "The Promise' "My Name is Asher Lev" and "The Gift of Asher Lev" are all wonderful books---enjoy!

Answer 6

the earth is in-dead .....microscopic.....> [ . ] <

if people would expand there minds to the size of galaxies , we would know our place in the great beyond>>>

when i feel to small.......i go out side at night and look up at the sky

i imagine i am expanding my mind and self

5 million light years above me,
5 million light years to the right,
5 million light years to the left
and 5 million light years below me.

10 million light years in conference

i feel spiritualy that i am much bigger than this body, and if i don't do this, i get caught up daily .....[ rut and routine ].

good question

Answer 7

Thats amazing!!!Just think how insignificant we really are.How it wouldn't matter at all if we didn't exist.With all that space there has to be other life out there.Will we ever contact other life forms.Its highly unlikely.What wonders await us.Will religious fanatics ever concede that god is just a figment of imagination used to explain something so profound that we will never fully understand it.WOW!!!

Answer 8

Amazing. I like the feeling of being in vast limitless Universe.

Astronomers rock!

Answer 9

a famous philosopher once said (can't remember who): "the universe is an enormous spinning wheel; man is a fly on the edge of the wheel; religion is the idea that the wheel exists to give the fly a ride."

Answer 10

More evidence the BuyBull has things wrong. I'm proud to be an atheist.