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226 Comments
- TheWorm, on 10/11/2007, -4/+214Makes you feel kind of insignificant.
- D0P3M4N, on 10/11/2007, -1/+170"If our sun were replaced with such a star, its surface could extend to the orbit of Saturn."
Eep! - madzor, on 10/11/2007, -4/+100obligatory: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3974466981713172831
- roflcawpter, on 10/11/2007, -9/+89Our Sun is a ***** pussy. Go committ supernova you good for nothing ball of gas.
- Aidenag, on 10/11/2007, -1/+71http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VY_Canis_Majoris Fore more info :)
- ethanthelame, on 10/11/2007, -1/+60Man, if that pixel goes dead we're screwed.
- whataboutdave, on 10/11/2007, -2/+51And we (earth) aren't even close to a pixel at that scale.
- silverchrysalis, on 10/11/2007, -2/+48just kind of?
- ayeroxor, on 10/11/2007, -18/+62"PIC: Comparison of Our Sun, To The Largest Known Star"
Is there any comparison of Submitter to somebody who knows how and when commas should actually be used? - KMye, on 10/11/2007, -1/+44Make sure you view it at full-size; the sun's still just a pixel when it's blown up.
- wildfire, on 10/11/2007, -3/+45Don't worry, our Sun will one day be able to compete and almost be as large.
Our Sun today compared to its future Red Giant self: http://www.umich.edu/~gs265/HOLLAND1.gif
Source: www.umich.edu/~gs265/star.htm - wayne247, on 10/11/2007, -8/+48I love it when authors use some sort of "human scale" reference in an attempt to give us an idea of the magnitude of something, and then fail at it because the magnitude of the scale itself is impractical.
You say that I would have to walk for 162,000 years? I have no idea how much I would walk in a year alone, how can I relate that to hundreds of thousands of years of walking? Comparing with a JET fighter circling it might have given more "human" perspective, even though it always annoys me to no end when people use football field as a measurement scale. So this country is the size of two Texases? The building is as large as 39 football fields? HOW ABOUT REAL NUMBERS DAMMIT?!
Less dumbing down please, the people will learn it eventually.
And then i'll get buried for ranting about the submitter's choice of words :) - Jolene, on 10/11/2007, -1/+36The only way to really understand how insignificant we are in this universe is to view your self through the Total Perspective Vortex.
- smackhero, on 10/11/2007, -0/+35that's why i use standard units of measurement such as volkswagen beatles per libraries of congress.
- AWBoy666, on 10/11/2007, -3/+33[neo]
Woah.....
[/neo] - mal1964, on 10/11/2007, -0/+29You guys laughed at my sunscreen SPF Trillion
- inactive, on 10/11/2007, -26/+55yup, i'de say thats about the correct size of Cheney's head
- danrien, on 10/11/2007, -0/+28"This star is likely to undergo a supernova stage by 3200. The distance from Earth to VY CMa is about 1.5 kiloparsecs (or 5,000 light-years)."
Somehow, that isn't far enough away. - inspecality, on 10/11/2007, -0/+27You know, I once completed the Kessel run in less than 12 parsecs.
- HBNDonut, on 10/11/2007, -0/+27The reason aliens havent found us yet?
We're too damn little! - aclements, on 10/11/2007, -2/+24Actually, the sun is shown at 1/2193 the size of the other star
- inactive, on 10/11/2007, -3/+25Actually, I don't care. As long as the sun is there I am happy.
- DreamVsPs2, on 10/11/2007, -1/+22Suddenly I feel so small ... :(
- OneAndOnlySnob, on 10/11/2007, -1/+20from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VY_Canis_Majoris
"...it would take more than 2 hours for light to travel around its circumference."
!!!!!!! - richmessenger, on 10/11/2007, -0/+19Actually not having a job, a girlfriend, or any conceivable skill makes me feel insignificant. This just makes me feel like the sun is small
- DolphinGL, on 10/11/2007, -0/+18It's not so much the heat as the humidity that'll kill ya.
- EpicCrusadr, on 10/11/2007, -3/+21Size doesn't matter, it's how you use it.
- digg-dugg, on 10/11/2007, -1/+18wow, thats bigger than my browser window
- bm8631, on 10/11/2007, -1/+18Also obligatory: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3009QOO2Tk
- MioTheGreat, on 10/11/2007, -0/+17Ah, the one thing life cannot have: A sense of perspective.
- mcphatty, on 10/11/2007, -0/+16now is 3200 when the supernova stage will begin, or when we will actually notice it... because if its the latter, wouldn't that mean that it has already gone through the supernova stage?
- smackhero, on 10/11/2007, -0/+15no, size refers to volume usually.
- RussellDovey, on 10/11/2007, -3/+18Not really. Can Canis Majoris trash-talk me back when I call it a big dumb ball of fusion? I don't think so, bitch. I don't think so. Try writing a short story, giving a speech or beating me at Starcraft, Canis Nooboris!
Intelligence rules aight! - primetime75, on 10/11/2007, -0/+14and by "best possible" they of course mean "we're entirely guessing"
- Esuzumy, on 10/11/2007, -2/+16Comprehension... failing...
- kevinh211, on 10/11/2007, -1/+15thats one of those facts that makes you go wow
wow - RlAA, on 10/11/2007, -0/+13http://www.rense.com/general72/size.htm
That puts everything in a more step by step way, its very interesting to see jsut how small and insignificant our planet is.. - tehrob, on 10/11/2007, -2/+15Also of note:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VY_Canis_Majoris
says it is 5000 Light Years away, and that it will supernova in the year 3200(for us), so basically this star has already been gone for about 4000 years... AMIRITE? - smackhero, on 10/11/2007, -0/+12less than 1/100th of a pixel actually.
mean radius of the sun: 696,000 km
mean radius of the earth: 6371 km - wayne247, on 10/11/2007, -1/+13Obligatory Grandpa Simpsons' quote:
"My car gets forty rods to the hogshead and that's the way I like it." - wicketr, on 10/11/2007, -1/+12Damn, that's a HUUUGE bitch!
- donkeyshow, on 10/11/2007, -1/+12the knowledge of extraterrestrial bodies displayed thus far is wangtacularly poor.
- CYR1X, on 10/11/2007, -3/+14owned.
- inactive, on 10/11/2007, -1/+11That's a big star.
- GeneralFailure0, on 10/11/2007, -0/+10Still not even close. In the dugg picture the Sun as it is now is shown even smaller and the comparison picture is much larger.
- BobSutan, on 10/11/2007, -0/+10Nope. When our sun goes into red giant mode it'll only take up the orbit just shy of the earth (if we're lucky). It'll still liquefy the surface of the planet though, so its a moot point.
My point is that the orbit of the Earth vs. that of Saturn is astronomically different. (pun intended) - g3r4, on 10/11/2007, -0/+10Those things are rather trivial in the grand scheme of things. This star can super-kill you. What can you do to it?
- inactive, on 10/11/2007, -3/+12Our Sun will always be #1.
So no preemptive wars Sun! - Urusai, on 10/11/2007, -1/+10Come on give him, a break.
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