Monday, November 9, 2009

The Universe (Part 1): How Big is The Sun?

To say the universe is large is a major understatement. The goal of this blog series is to put the size of our planet into a more accurate perspective. Starting off with a size comparison of our planet to the Sun. Many people seem content with just this planet, in-fact they are often times unable to grasp how large our own planet is. Most believe our planet is the center of everything, this close-mindedness robs those people of the real inspiration — the universe. The fact that people feel they need to get inspiration from the unknown is ridiculous, we have all this real inspiration right before our own eyes, only to be ignored by the majority.

Here is a picture of Earth. Imagine all the billions of people living here, all the cities and nations they make up, and all of the other forms of life — all of the reasons we call this planet home.
(NASA material)



Here is our sun compared in size to our planet. Keep the previous image and thoughts in mind when looking at this one. Try as hard as you can to imagine the incredibly large size of our Sun — the source of our energy, the reason we are here. This is a reality, we live our lives there, while revolving around this star. Most don't appreciate just how small we are. 
 
Notice the blue dot on the lower right-hand side, that is Earth (the ratio is an approximation)


To think that the sun only exists to provide us light and heat seems ridiculous — we only exist because of the Sun. The Sun is huge compared to our planet, but keep in mind the Sun is an average sized star (average in scale from the largest to the smallest of stars). So the next time you look up at the stars, think about how significant they are, then think about how significant you are to them.

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5 comments:

  1. ShaunJune 5, 2011 at 9:38 AM

    Ah Good... I would like all atheist to ponder upon this for a second.

    Lets look at this at a scientific point of view. Since you only tend to believe in science.

    The universe is vast isn't it? Do you think that an ant on the ground would ever be able to interact with what goes on in space? We as humans have the ability to interact with the universe on a far greater scale than that of an ant. Our level of interaction with the universe is higher than that of an ant.

    Do you not believe that just like an ant on the ground that there exist a part of the universe or may even exist outside of the universe in which we as humans are unable to interact with? we are unable to see, smell, touch, hear, taste anything that goes on there? we don't even know that it exist? Just like an ant who doesn't even know that it exist in a galaxy called the milky way.

    Lets just call those levels of interactions Demensions. Do you not believe that there are Demensions that are above ours? The reason why we exist in a Demension that is higher than tat of an ant is because laws are placed upon the ant that keeps it from interacting with the world at a much higher Demension. (lol bare with me I shall make sense soon). Just like the ant that is restricted by the laws of physics so are we. However do you not believe that there are Demensions that exist outside the laws of physics? The existence of the world and the laws of science are proof of that. The laws of physics states that matter/energy can not be created nor destroyed. Yet still the universe exist for the universe to exist matter/energy would have had to be created. Wouldn't you believe that the universe was created outside the boundaries of the laws of physics? How else would the universe have been created? Wouldn't you believe that there exist a demension where the laws of physics that governs us has no effect? That the physical world which we are able to interact with is just another small dot within a even larger and more complex world which our level of interaction just like the ant is limited?

    Ponder Upon this

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  2. JeremyJune 5, 2011 at 9:52 AM

    "The laws of physics states that matter/energy can not be created nor destroyed"

    Perhaps you should read this closer.

    "Yet still the universe exist for the universe to exist matter/energy would have had to be created."

    Why exactly does energy NEED to be created?

    "How else would the universe have been created?"

    It is your mind that believes that the universe must have been created, not everyone agrees with this. If energy cannot be created or destroyed then that means it cannot be created (redundant?). This implies that energy is eternal, and needs no creation. It it much more rational to believe the energy in the universe has always existed. While the Big Bang is the start of the universe as we know it, it is not the start of energy itself (otherwise the Big Bang wouldn't have happened).

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  3. ShaunJune 5, 2011 at 10:36 AM

    Ok now I am confused. you say that energy/matter is eternal that it always has existed. But then you saying that the big bang is the start of the universe? What is the universe? isn't the universe everything that we see around us? the stars, the planets, you, me? In other words isn't the universe matter? Then by saying that the big bang is the start of the universe aren't you saying that matter didn't always existed?

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  4. ShaunJune 5, 2011 at 1:07 PM

    "This implies that energy is eternal, and needs no creation. It it much more rational to believe the energy in the universe has always existed. While the Big Bang is the start of the universe as we know it, it is not the start of energy itself (otherwise the Big Bang wouldn't have happened)."

    What I am getting from you is that the energy which always existed caused the big bang which started the universe. The universe being everything around us. The stars the planet the earth etc.

    What is energy? Energy is the ability to do work right? what exactly had the ability to do work? If energy caused the big bang which started the universe. Then something must have existed, that has the ability to do work for the big bang to have happened right?

    Energy cannot exist by itself all forms of energy whether it be mechanical, chemical, radiation, electrical, electromagnetic are caused by something else.

    So what exactly had the ability to do work which caused the big bang which was the start of the universe?

    ReplyDelete
  5. JeremyJune 7, 2011 at 5:41 PM

    I believe matter is energy :)

    I believe energy can create matter...

    "So what exactly had the ability to do work which caused the big bang which was the start of the universe?'

    Ask someone that was there :)

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