26 Pictures that will change the way you think of the universe

When you are looking at your place on planet Earth, you might think that you have quite a niche carved out for yourself. There are many ways to look at how much expanse we have on this Earth. It would be impossible to see everything, but we live in a universe that is filled with things that you cannot possibly imagine unless you look at the pictures yourself.

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Imagen de la NASA Goddard Space Flight Center / Via visibleearth.nasa.gov

This is Earth. This is where we live, and it is a pretty large place. However, we need to put that size into perspective. The Earth seems like a fairly large planet to us, but it is much smaller than we think.

The Solar System

Via foxnews.com

This is where the Earth fits into the solar system. You can see that it fits neatly into all the other planets. They almost are arranged by size, and we have a spot just for ourselves.

NASA

This is how far the moon is from the Earth. It is a little farther than you thought, is it not? Keep that in mind when you look up at night and notice that the moon has taken its nightly shape.

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PerplexingPotato / Via reddit.com

Unfortunately, all the planets could fit between the Earth and the moon. That is frightening. Imagine looking up and seeing Jupiter in the sky and taking it all up when you look in the sky. It is so big that is could easily block sunlight, too.

Let’s talk about size…

NASA / John Brady / Via astronomycentral.co.uk

That is where North America fits on Jupiter. It does not look so big now, and it appears that our place in the universe is rather small. In fact, our planet could not seem much smaller.

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NASA / John Brady / Via astronomycentral.co.uk

The rings of Saturn alone are as wide as that many Earths. You would be amazed at how large and rocky those rings are. They look nice from here, but they are massive when you consider them in this light.

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Ron Miller / Via io9.com

This is what the rings of Saturn would look like if they were around the Earth. Could you imagine those standing out in the sky at night? You would always have something to look at when you peered into the sky.

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Matt Wang / Via mentalfloss.com

That is a comet. Yes, that is a comet landing on a city. You might wish upon them when they fly in the sky, but they are not that nice when they compare to a city. Los Angeles looks like a tiny town, isn’t?

Our tiny Sun, say Hi!

Vía Twitter: @maiwandafghani

This is how pitifully small the Earth is in comparison to the sun. It is a good thing that we are so far from the sun or we would be toast. Look at how big that thing is!

Maybe, the most famous photo of the 20Th.

NASA

This is the view of the Earth from the Moon. You can see pretty clearly that the Earth is not all that big when you are so far away, but it is a nice view for a lunar lander.

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NASA

That is the Earth from Mars. That is quite a way when you consider how small the Earth looks. The view can get even more distant if you back up into the solar system a little bit more.

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NASA

This is the view of the Earth from Saturn, and that is how far away the worm hole was when they traveled all the way there in Interstellar. The farther you get from the Earth, it appears to be a blip and not a planet full of life.

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NASA

Now you are looking at the Earth from the edge of the solar system. That is just the edge of the solar system and we appear to be an insignificant speck in the universe. It is possible that we are a speck.

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John Brady / Via astronomycentral.co.uk

This is the view from behind the sun. This is what is looks like when light leaves the Sun and makes its way to Earth to warm us and give up daytime. Sunlight travels even farther than you thought to give us daylight.

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NASA

The soft sunlight from a distant planet. You can get the light from anywhere and the sun is much more powerful than you think it is. Just imagine sitting on another planet and still being bathed by the sun.

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Vía science.nationalgeographic.com

There are more stars in the sky than there are grains of sand on Earth. Just let that sink in for a minute before you continue. That is a a lot of stars, and they will likely never be counted.

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Via en.wikipedia.org

That is the largest star that we can observe. It is so large that it makes our own sun look small. If you think about how big the sun is in comparison to the Earth, that is quite a large source of light.

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Vía youtube.com

Now look at the Earth in comparison to this largest star. This is something that is hard to imagine. Think of a light source that big in the sky, it would be quite scary. You would be able to see the flames jumping off the surface of the star.

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Vía reddit.com

If we could reduce the sun up to the size of a white blood cell and shrink The Milky Way, using the same scale, this is how would look. The sun is just one cell in the solar system, but the solar system is more like America. It is only one of many. We just happen to live in it, but there are many more out there.

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Vía teecraze.com

There we are in the solar system. The Milky Way is pretty big, and it is hard to imagine how you would be able to see the Earth from this far away. We are swallowed up by the light created by all the stars in the galaxy.

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(This picture is not the Milky Way, but you got a idea)Vía Twitter: @lucybrockle

Every star you can see at night only fits inside the galaxy. You cannot see light from outside the circle, and that is something you need to think about in the scope of the universe that we live in.

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Vía Twitter: @smokeinpublic

Our galaxy is pretty pitiful in comparison to other galaxies out there. Just look at how big some of the them are. Could you imagine our huge world being in a place of that size? The galaxy dwarfs us.

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Via hubblesite.org

Our little galaxy is down there in the corner, and this is just one look at the observable universe. There is so much more that we cannot see, and no one knows how big it really is. Just look the picture.

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Vía wikisky.org

That is a telescopic image of another galaxy. It is so bright that we cannot see any of the planets or stars inside of it individually. The galaxy is so full of stars and light that you could never get a clear image.

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Vía thetoc.gr

All of that came from that one little square. On this image it looks like nothingness. However, it where we live with other galaxies and an infinite number of stars. In the context of the universe, we are even smaller than we realize.

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D. Benningfield/K. Gebhardt/fecha estelar / Via mcdonaldobservatory.org

In case you were wondering, this is how big a black hole is. If it were swallow up anything, it would swallow up our galaxy all at once. There is no need to worry about it getting just one planet. It is gigantic.