Humbled by the Universe

[The Nal]

Giant sun!

[funkymp]

wth! that's absolutely insane

[brighteyes]

How and why did it all happen? It's mental.

[The Nal]

I love when they discover something like this. Religion becomes a little more stupid each time.

Explain THAT creationists!

[RABun]

Intelligently designed by the creator obviously!! duh!

[Rufus Gwertigan]

Giant sun!

I hope they give it a really good name.

I am starting a Facebook campaign for "Huge Dongwangle".

[The Nal]

I hope they give it a really good name.

Ian gets my vote.

[The Nal]

Solar flare!!

[brighteyes]

Only a matter of time til one of these bad boys takes out our planet, Knowing-style (EE Everyone Else)

[Gre]

The earth weighs 5973600000000000000000000 kg ... take THAT weight watchers!

Well I knew i'd put a bit of weight on since uni, but Blimey

[feral chile]

the weight of a planet...

that f**ks me up

why is it floating in nothing if it weighs so much?

^^^ I love it when tb rolls in totally baffled on these matters ...

eta: No disrespect, of course.

My kids like to do my head in with stuff like this, so I know what you mean tony. They talk about what would happen if the earth suddenly stopped spinning, for instance.

It's not just knowing the scientific theory behind it - it's still absolutely mindblowing.

[Jackmypie]

There's gotta be some some sort of life on those mofos.

I just watched Paul btw.

[rabid]

why is it floating in nothing if it weighs so much?

It doesn't, that's the mass.

[jonbob]

Sorry about this, but we mostly are floating in nothing. Think about the empty space inside an atom ... 99.9% is empty space, nothing. Everything is made of atoms. You and everything you see and touch is practically nothing.

the "nothing" inside the atom still contain the various fields that hold everything in place, so its not technically "nothing"

in terms of viewing subatomic particles as points, its still a good analogy though

[Ed209]

The earth weighs 5973600000000000000000000 kg ... take THAT weight watchers!

the weight of a planet...

that f**ks me up

why is it floating in nothing if it weighs so much?

Its not just floating though, because the earth is so massive their is a force of 3.5421 x 10^22 N between the earth and the sun, which makes the earth orbit the sun at 67000 miles per hour.

[Ed209]

Not sure about this ...

If you are talking about mass in relation to the Earth and Sun, it makes more sense to state 'because the Sun is so massive ...'. Also, this mass does not 'make the Earth orbit the sun', as the implication that gravity (a very, very weak force) causes the earth to move at such a great speed is misleading. I would add that the Earth (and Sun and everything else) was moving at great speed anyway and that it is only the effect of the mass of the Sun which causes it to orbit it.

well its because the two of them are so massive that there is such a strong force between them, with the sun obviously being the over riding body, but the force is proportional to both their masses. and the circular motion equation ties this force, to the speed and radius of rotation.

I realise its not as simple as how I wrote it, my point was that the mass of the earth contributes to the fact it is very definitely not just floating.

edit: yeah sorry my bad, the mass in that circular motion equation cancels with the mass in the gravitational force equation. Its still definitely not just floating though

Edited June 10, 2011 by Ed209

[Ed209]

double post

Edited June 10, 2011 by Ed209

[feral chile]

causes the earth to move at such a great speed is misleading. I would add that the Earth (and Sun and everything else) was moving at great speed anyway and that it is only the effect of the mass of the Sun which causes it to orbit it.

Don't.

Just....

Don't.

[philipsteak]

[Istari]

Yes we are, 'cos Jason Spaceman says so!

Actually Jostein Gaarder said this

Sophie's World

[The Nal]

The Hubble Telescope. Great website.

Hubblesite.

Photo gallery is spectacular will melt your brain.

"Dust and gas rising in the Carina Nebula. The top of a three-light-year tall pillar of cool hydrogen ( ) is being worn away by the radiation of nearby stars, while stars within the pillar unleash jets of gas that stream from the peaks."

Edited August 15, 2011 by The Nal

[The Nal]

It Fell From the Sky. Pictures of Asteroids that have hit the earth.

Good article on asteroids here too.

[The Nal]

Anyone up north see the Northern Lights last night?

[The Nal]

What the fuck is this?

[5co77ie]

What the fuck is this?

Thursday had some weird weather someone I know near Bristol said they saw snowflakes the size of their hand, and another had 'soft' hailstones the size of tennis balls outside Ilfracombe.