The Universe, All Of It On Your Screen

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.

The Nerdiest Thing In The World

Another tip of the hat to the excellent bad astronomer for bringing this gem to my attention. Possibly the nerdiest picture I have ever seen (click on it for the full version), but one that may well answer many an argument over coffee at the office (If like me you work in an almost all male astronomy department). A scale picture of just about every spaceship you can think of from TV or film and I thought I had too much time.