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Hello everyone! Please read the descriptions.
Okay, everyone has seen this picture. The solarystem, and all of its large planetary bodies, set up next to eachother in scale, with the Red Arrow pointing to Earth.. But how large is the Sun really, when set up right next to Earth? And how large is the largest known star? Let's look.
Using Universe Simulator 2, I decided to show you guys the sheer scale of the giants in the universe. Note that the software may not be 100% scientifically accurate, allthough it does feature accurate sizes of planets and stars. Here, I put the Earth right next to the Sun.
Okay, the Sun is pretty big. We knew that already. But how big is it compared to one of the leading canditates of being the largest known star? Let's have a look at UY Scuti.
UY Scuti.
So I put the Sun directly next to UY Scuti, and immediately, you can see the Sun being dwarfed, not much unlike the Earth next to the Sun. Mind boggling.
Can you see the Sun?
Insane.
The Earth's sky if UY Scuti was our sun.
For my next visualization, I put Earth at a distance of about 1 AU from UY Scuti. 1 AU would be the distance that Earth is from the Sun, on average. Meaning, I replaced the Sun with UY Scuti and orbitted the Earth around it. This would be our view of the sky.
Looking to the left, out from the horizon. This is from the surface of Earth by the way.
Looking up.
And then, I put UY Scuti in our solar system, replacing the Sun with the giant. It immediately swallows planets Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, and Jupiter, including all of their orbits. Only Saturn, Uranus, Neptunus and Pluto survive the slaughter, though Saturn is nearly swallowed, too.
This would be Saturns new view. Saturns average distance from the sun is about 1,433,449,370 km. That's 891 million miles, or 9.6 AU. This far away, the sun is nothing but a speck in the sky, but UY Scuti swallows its entire view.
Insane? I think so.
thedudeymta
TIL i cant look at sun continuously for 5 seconds even on my screen
Immacutyou
UY Scuti sounds like a rapper name.
idrinkcheapbeer
"Please read the descriptions" You're not the boss of me.
TheMoosemoose
Swiggity swooty I'm comin for that scuti
moldyhands
Perfect response to this intellectual post. Haha. Updoot
Brad125
This
ForeveraKritik
You beat me to it, you clever little disaster, you.
underachievingvillan
All this, and still no banana for scale.
dancfontaine
There was a banana actually in every frame but it was barely visible because of the scale of the images etc etc
Zalor
Credit where its due, the photos are from the "game" Universe Sandbox^2
Zalor
Not 100% sure, but 99% is pretty close
Herpetology
This is awesome, as a Redditer you'll never read this but +1 OP
LCMcG
As a herpetology lover +1
[deleted]
[deleted]
Themegaladon
?
poertato
how can space be real if our eyes aren't real
LIFEISNOW
what do you mean? everyting is atoms and epmtiness btw, just a quantum soup man you're a REAL QUANTUM SOUP
Salsaun528
I'm so glad there wasn't a dickbutt at the end....
Raptorist
This is terrifying
Justthejayitis
It's a small world after all
obligatoryguy
Holy shit I didn't think I was gonna learn actual science when I logged into imgur tonight...
marketsmash
Beam me up Scuti
buttcrackula
It's getting hot in here.
Icompletelyagreewitheverythingyouvesaidsofar
Damn sun
doggyherder
And the magic genii in the sky is up there thinking only about the wellfare of Huckabee, Palen and the rest.
jrfi36ruiflk
http://imgur.com/ZbELpbD
ofspaceandtime
Niozz
Where'd you find this?
peacenox
reclaimingrequiem
-Slow clap-
jakite
You amazing person you
ISmellManFlesh
Carlos!
LookAtDeezNuts
I'm so glad that ur anus survived and got not eaten...
DragonMuffins
PitbullsPublicist
it's only a scratch.
Smolderos
DragonMuffins
hehehe
iTheMaster
is this from a movie?
iTheMaster
Thank you both :)
NotARelevantUserNameAtAll
Chronicles of Riddick
BarrettCortellesi
The solar winds would probably obliterate the remaining gas giants.
WellTheNamesJauneArc
We're all on some insignificant blue dot floating in the universe.
tsolorio
you mean instead of pale?
LIFEISNOW
Why is it insignificant? What make something significant? Maybe you actually ARE significant because you're in fact ALL THERE IS
bringbakfirefly
Now simulate its supernova and give us an update.
lolalee
I....don't know what to do with this information
hardytardigrade
The only thing I remember is that my anus survived the slaughter
dancfontaine
You didn't maintain any of the other interesting facts? Oh well..
HalloIamherenow
I dunno, marvel at how insignificant we are compared to the rest of the universe or something?
LIFEISNOW
AGAIN, maybe marvel at how fucking significant you are bcause that SCUTY is actually YOU! you are part of it all so you ARE all there is
LIFEISNOW
everyone seem to always say how insignificant they are when they read something about space, YOUR EGO - YES, your true self IS ALL THERE IS
StrawberryUnicorn
I always up vote space.
DontCaaaaaare
Still not as big as OP's mom.
MartySchrute
This joke start to become annoying...
ItHertz
bickdutt96
MrDrProfessorPatrick
LordMelvinstar
Burn hotter than the core of UY Scuti
DoctorWest
OP Momys Majoris
GrimGrape
He didn't deserve this savagery
chimpspirit
Such is the life of an OP in the wild.
TheKatsMeooow
On behalf of my fellow Arizonans, and probably a good number of Australians, could you not?
holycrap55
Thank god, my anus is safe.
wellnoshit
Damn son
Splodgey
Sun*
1941NaihonGaiganYamatoClassBattleShip
tdawgcatfish
Worth the watch
SpartanHunter93
Jesus imagine the supernova from Scuti
mosier0874
DO IT!
Kopachris
It'll be kinda meh. It's only 7-10x the mass of our sun, there are plenty of far heavier stars, e.g. Eta Carinae.
Dominian
Eta Carinae also known as "OH MY GOD KILL IT WITH FIRE! OH MY GOD IT IIISSS FIRE!!!"
seoulfoundation
It says something about the insanity of the universe that a star with 10x our sun's mass is "meh".
LavaAxe
We, as a space faring species, have evolved to the point where some supernovae are described as "meh". Aka. "kinda cool, I guess"
nacko
It would be face-meltingly awesome to observe I'm sure but I guess he considered it not all that spectacular among potential supernovae.
ian9outof10
Does anyone else get a bit freaked out by the size of the larger stars. I find their size incredibly overwhelming. It's a weird feeling.
Dominian
There is a minimum size a star has to have in order to become a star and a maximum maintainable size. Everythin in between eventually exists
PhunPhact
Anything to do with outer space and the ocean is always equally mind boggling, breathtaking, and ABSOLUTELY TERRIFYING.
EKTitanReaver
slight speratic breathing, chest feeling weird and scared, shivers and feeling cold randomly plus over-thinking everything ismy weirdfeeling
LegendLength
I'm pretty sure I know what you mean, it's a hard feeling to describe.
ian9outof10
I guess it's sort of like my fear of the deep sea. Unlikely to cause me many problems, but unknown and alarming at the same time
Sakkura
Bear in mind most of the star is EXTREMELY tenuous. Their average density is MUCH lower than air (at sea level).
mirria
The blackhole at the center of M87 Messier galaxy is estimated to have 6.6 bilion solar masses and event horizon larger than Neptune's orbit
gustavobc
The one associated with quasar H1821+643 has a mass of 30 Gigasuns. Its event horizon is 28 times the size of Pluto's orbit. (1/2)
gustavobc
The largest non-quasar one is I think in NGC 4889, and that's still 12 times larger than Pluto's orbit. But (2/3, miscounted)
gustavobc
here's why it shouldn't sound all that scary: https://youtu.be/7zgf0BEndko
LIFEISNOW
yes, it's mindboggling. think about how you were born into all this here on Earth, so you r actually part of this all! You are the universe!
nacko
I read a saying, and I paraphrase, that mankind is the universe's means of observing and understanding itself.
LIFEISNOW
TRUTH
ian9outof10
Yeah, but I'm so small
LIFEISNOW
who;s that 'I'm'? you see, it depends what you identify with
LIFEISNOW
just think about it long enough, you'll realize. nothing new.
LIFEISNOW
you're not your damn brain, or the mind, or a student, or engineer, it's all false identities of your EGO. you're the ALL THERE IS
ian9outof10
It's getting real over here
Sunky
Last time i checked Vy Canis Majoris was the biggest star, now it's on 8th place, AWESOME
Okurka
Did not know that. Holy shit.
CassiopeiaGames
wow, I had no idea either.
17thspartan
This is news to me...and it's awesome.I didn't know it was passed up.Although I did hear about the recent discovery of the oldest galaxy yet
orbitn
My latin is a little dead, but doesn't Canis Majoris mean "Big dog"?
RottenState
Well the name of the star is actually Sirius, in the Canis Major constellation.
TheHaddockMan
No it isn't... Sirius is a completely different star (binary in fact) that isn't particularly big compared to the Sun.
gustavobc
Canis Major = greater dog; Canis Majoris = of the grater dog. The former is the constellation's name, the latter is used to name its stars..
gustavobc
...so VY Canis Majoris is the star VY in the constelation Canis Major (the greater dog). Those are more systematic names, there's popular...
gustavobc
...names for most brightest stars (e.g. Sirius for α Canis Majoris). Scuti is the genitive of Scutum, the shield. UY Scuti is UY in Scutum.
villlllle
Hehe.. he said scutum.