Planets and Stars

I hope you found the previous mind exercise on Visualizing Large Numbers fun and enlightening.

Fun because we

enjoyed the idea vacuuming up a fortune and being rich.

Enlightening because we realized that this would require the commitment of a lifetime career to become a billionaire.

Think that was mind-stretching? Wait until you go through today's exercise!

Today we're going to hold in mind the concept of "one billion" and step a bit deeper into the Universe.

In the following short video we're going to look at the size of the earth and, using scale modeling, see how this big, wide, wonderful planet of ours compares to other objects in the Universe.

Please watch the video two or three times to get the full effect. Even if you've seen similar material before, watch again to refresh your memory.

Then - take some time to meditate upon it.

Go to your quiet place and try to picture things being That Big.

They're real, they're physical, and yet, they're immensely huge.

The more you let it sink in, the more incomprehensible the sheer size of things becomes.

And yet, as you meditate on the subject, you'll see that you CAN wrap your mind around it, but when you find that step, that place, that different rotation of view, you'll find that it changes your perception of everything.

The challenge becomes how long you can hold on to those multiple, simultaneous perceptions of reality - or if you even want to.

Laughing out loud, I am I am.

It'll be interesting to see who comes back tomorrow, when we take this another step.

If the embedded video doesn't work for some reason, here's the link to the video: http://youtu.be/7NYRVsKAkFM

Wow. There are stars so large they would encompass the orbit of Pluto - stars the size of our entire solar system.

Can you take it? Will your head explode, or can you take some more?

Blissings to you and yours.

Large true-color image of the sky. Try zooming in:
http://media.skysurvey.org/openzoom.html

A map of the solar system, based on the scale of our moon=1 pixel. Prepare to scroll a lot:
http://joshworth.com/dev/pixelspace/pixelspace_solarsystem.html

P.S. Take your time and absorb this. Seeing it isn't the same as absorbing it... When you think you're ready, continue on to Black Holes.

Dr. Jim