07 July 2011

Video of the week -- the scale of nature



An eruption on the Sun. This video is time-lapsed and covers three hours of real time. The Sun's diameter is more than 100 times that of the Earth; the Earth would be about the size of the small white circle in the lower right corner.

6 Comments:

Blogger Ahab said...

I'm agnostic on the existence of God, but if there were a supreme being, I imagine it would be a vast and incomprehensible being to have created a magnificent universe such as ours. The god of fundamentalists irks me because he seems so small and petty compared to the vastness of our universe. Why would a being who allegedly forged galaxies and crafted quasars care if we eat shrimp or wear the wrong underwwear?

07 July, 2011 06:38  
Blogger Robert the Skeptic said...

To paraphrase Bill O'Reilly: "The sun comes up, the sun goes down... you can't explain it!"

07 July, 2011 09:33  
Anonymous Jack said...

haha Ahab I had a remarkably similar thought. Despite my atheism (perhaps even dreaded gnu atheism), this kinda stuff makes me stand in awe, and gives me a bit of perspective on why some choose to kneel in adoration.

07 July, 2011 19:09  
Blogger Infidel753 said...

Ahab: One must also wonder at the concept of a being powerful enough to create the Sun, but who, when he really wants to get our attention, does so by causing a vague image of his face to appear on a taco.

RtS: He probably couldn't explain it -- and probably thinks the Sun really does go up and down while the Earth stands still.

07 July, 2011 19:09  
Blogger Ranch Chimp said...

It is a great piece of photo work, I'll admit

08 July, 2011 05:49  
Blogger Infidel753 said...

Jack: It's all the more awe-inspiring when one doesn't fall prey to trite supernatural delusions.

RC: We're keeping a close eye on the Sun these days -- the same poster on YouTube has many more such videos of it.

08 July, 2011 06:33  

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