Here is an image that the ICCmofos had on their door a while back, showing distances to objects stretching from the Core of the Earth to the edge of the observable Universe. Using a logarithmic scale it shows the distances to objects such as Earth orbiting satellites, the planets, nearby stars, galaxies, clusters of galaxies, SDSS galaxies and the Cosmic Microwave Background. It is very cool in a very nerdy way. Unfortunately I can't seem to track down who made it right now.
Of particular note are the SDSS galaxies shown at the top of the page as blue dots, the filamentary structure of the Universe on large scales is immediately obvious. I still think it is pretty amazing that we're smart enough as a species to measure such things and then are able to plot the distances to anything in the Universe on only 3-4 sheets of A4.
Of particular note are the SDSS galaxies shown at the top of the page as blue dots, the filamentary structure of the Universe on large scales is immediately obvious. I still think it is pretty amazing that we're smart enough as a species to measure such things and then are able to plot the distances to anything in the Universe on only 3-4 sheets of A4.
1 comment:
Cheers for a cool link, btw. Downloaded the GIF in the office yesterday for printing; will probably put a copy on my door.
(My students seem to find it very disconcerting when I go off on things like this. "But...but...what's Canopus to do with split infinitives and Vanity Fair?!")
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