APOD: 2012 March 12 - The Scale of the Universe Interactive (original) (raw)

Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos!Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

2012 March 12

The Scale of the Universe - Interactive
Flash Animation Credit & Copyright: Cary & Michael Huang

Explanation: What does the universe look like on small scales? On large scales? Humanity is discovering that the universe is a very different place on every proportion that has been explored. For example, so far as we know, every tiny proton isexactly the same, but everyhuge galaxy is different. On more familiar scales, a small glass table top to a human is avast plane of strange smoothness to adust mite -- possiblyspeckled with cell boulders. Not all scale lengths arewell explored -- what happens to the smallest mist droplets you sneeze, for example, is a topic of active research -- and possibly useful to know to helpstop the spread of disease. The above interactive flash animation, a modern version of the classic videoPowers of Ten, is a new window to many of theknown scales of our universe. By moving the scroll bar across the bottom, you can explore adiversity of sizes, while clicking on different items will bring up descriptive information.

Tomorrow's picture: dust before galaxies

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff(MTU) &Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Phillip NewmanSpecific rights apply.
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