The Big Yellow One Is The Sun!

[Amaris]

I was standing outside in our yard this afternoon, letting the dog get a little exercise running around, and I was just being a bit reflective, and started thinking about the seasons, and when I stepped into the sunlight (out of the shade from the eaves of the house), I remarked to myself about how if this were summer this light would be much warmer because the Sun's rays would be more focused on our part of the earth, and so I look up toward the Sun (without being too stupid too look right at it) and for some reason the funniest observation struck me, and I just let it really dawn on me (no pun intended) that that source of light was a huge star. It was a star! Now, believe me when I tell you that I have known this for many, many years, but this time I let the thought sit in the forefront for a minute, and really gave it some weight. Our Sun is a star! A G2 main sequence star, and I just found it fascinating!.

Has anyone ever had such thoughts? Not just about the Sun, but about anything. Things that you know and take for granted, but then once you let it "sink in", it's pretty amazing!

J.

 

[RoJoHen]

When I really try to think about astronomy, I get overwhelmed. Things are just SO LARGE that it's impossible for me to really get a grasp of what I'm thinking about.

 

[An Officer]

It is amazing, isn't it. I would love to go on Branson's upcoming tourist space flights, and see it all from beyond our atmosphere in zero gravity. I do believe our future lies in the stars. I wish I could live to see a time when we have populated our solar system at least.

*Goes digging in pockets to look for spare £200,000 change to go on said flight*

 

[Amaris]

When I really try to think about astronomy, I get overwhelmed. Things are just SO LARGE that it's impossible for me to really get a grasp of what I'm thinking about.

Exactly! Once I thought about it after that point, I started thinking about other stars, nearby stars, and that even now, after decades, the Voyager space probes are still leaving our backyard, and that it would be millenia before they would reach another star. Entire civilizations will rise and fall before Voyager I reaches Proxima Centauri!

It is amazing, isn't it. I would love to go on Branson's upcoming tourist space flights, and see it all from beyond our atmosphere in zero gravity. I do believe our future lies in the stars. I wish I could live to see a time when we have populated our solar system at least.

*Goes digging in pockets to look for spare £200,000 change to go on said flight*

Me too! Oh, and that's a good idea.

<runs to closet to check status of "John's Kollij Fund" coin cup>
<returns disappointed>


J.

 

[RoJoHen]

Not just astronomy, though. I have the same problem with history.

I mean, millions of years ago, there may have been dinosaurs walking around where my apartment is.

 

[Amaris]

Not just astronomy, though. I have the same problem with history.

I mean, millions of years ago, there may have been dinosaurs walking around where my apartment is.

There ya go. Yeah, I'm talking about anything that you really think about that you normally take for granted.

I think about things like that at times, also. I sit outside and wonder if thousands of years ago, migrating tribes people passed through where our driveway now sits. It's really fun to consider stuff like that.

Did you ever think about the fact that your computer is sitting on a stack of densely packed atoms that resemble a desk? I just did.

J.

 

[An Officer]

I mean, millions of years ago, there may have been dinosaurs walking around where my apartment is.

That is a freaky thought.
Reckon where your apartment sits was their living area, kitchen, or bathroom?

 

[Amaris]

I mean, millions of years ago, there may have been dinosaurs walking around where my apartment is.

That is a freaky thought. Reckon where your apartment sits was their living area, kitchen, or bathroom?

"There was a Velociraptor where my toilet now sits."
"Interesting. Did he flush twice when he was done?"


J.

 

[Zulu Romeo]

I keep thinking about VY Canis Majoris, the largest known star in the Galaxy so far discovered, so huge (we're talking a circumference of about 8 light hours) that if it replaced the Sun at the centre of our Solar System, it could very well consume everything up to Saturn.

I also keep thinking about the distance, age, and size of Betelgeuse, and thinking that it might be going (super)nova as we speak, yet we'd have to wait until 2650 before we saw it happen here.

And I think to myself.... what a wonderful Universe. And how insignificant we really are in comparison, such that if we were all dead tomorrow, or even in 3 years' time, the Universe... heck even Planet Earth itself would not miss us. And that makes me feel good.

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buqtdpuZxvk[/yt]

On the other hand, I'm also reminded of this speech from the end of Watchmen, chapter IX:

Thermodynamic Miracles... Events with odds against so astronomical they're effectively impossible, like oxygen spontaneously becoming gold. I long to observe such a thing.

And yet, in each human coupling, a thousand million sperm vie for a single egg. Multiply those odds by countless generations, against the odds of your ancestors being alive, meeting, siring this precise son, that exact daughter...

.... of the thousand million children competing for fertilization, it was you, only you, that emerged.

To distill so specific a form from that chaos of improbability, like turning air to gold, that is the crowning unlikelihood.

The thermodynamic miracle.

... For you are life, rarer than a quark and unpredictable beyond the dreams of Heisenberg; the clay in which the forces that shape all things leave their fingerprints most clearly.

That makes me feel even better.

 

[SeerSGB]

I was standing outside in our yard this afternoon, letting the dog get a little exercise running around, and I was just being a bit reflective, and started thinking about the seasons, and when I stepped into the sunlight (out of the shade from the eaves of the house), I remarked to myself about how if this were summer this light would be much warmer because the Sun's rays would be more focused on our part of the earth, and so I look up toward the Sun (without being too stupid too look right at it) and for some reason the funniest observation struck me, and I just let it really dawn on me (no pun intended) that that source of light was a huge star. It was a star! Now, believe me when I tell you that I have known this for many, many years, but this time I let the thought sit in the forefront for a minute, and really gave it some weight. Our Sun is a star! A G2 main sequence star, and I just found it fascinating!.

Has anyone ever had such thoughts? Not just about the Sun, but about anything. Things that you know and take for granted, but then once you let it "sink in", it's pretty amazing!

J.

That happens to me from time to time.

I went out to get the cellphone out of the care the other night, and just looked by chance. The sky was so clear and the stars just perfectly sharp and bright, that I just sat on the porch for nearly an hour staring up at the sky.

 

[RoJoHen]

You know, this actually reminds of a vacation I was on once. The hotel was right by a 4-lane interstate, and we arrived during rush hour. I spent a solid 5 minutes staring out the window at the highway, and I bet 1000 cars drove by in that short amount of time. It got me thinking about just how many fucking people there are in the world and that all of these cars had people in them that were going about their lives, whatever those lives might be. Then my friend told me I was weird.

 

[Amaris]

That happens to me from time to time.

I went out to get the cellphone out of the care the other night, and just looked by chance. The sky was so clear and the stars just perfectly sharp and bright, that I just sat on the porch for nearly an hour staring up at the sky.

I love living further out in the country. I can see so many more stars.

And you did it just now, too! You mention both a cell phone and a car. Imagine, we can travel, in a scant few hours, great distances that took our forefathers weeks to travel, and we can do it in comfort! Add to that the cell phone, where you can call from your fast moving vehicle, and talk to anyone around the world in near real time, through a device that requires no wires, no bulky power source, you can scour the internet with it, pulling up an entire library at your fingertips, knowledge that even 50 years ago required lots of research, consuming large amounts of time to gather.

You know, this actually reminds of a vacation I was on once. The hotel was right by a 4-lane interstate, and we arrived during rush hour. I spent a solid 5 minutes staring out the window at the highway, and I bet 1000 cars drove by in that short amount of time. It got me thinking about just how many fucking people there are in the world and that all of these cars had people in them that were going about their lives, whatever those lives might be. Then my friend told me I was weird.

I've done that, too. I see people walk past me to their cars, as I enter a supermarket, and I just wonder to where are they going, what are their lives? Who will they see? What will they do? Is their life happy? sad? I wonder about their past, and the memories they have, and all I've done is walk by them and it gets me wondering. Sometimes I remind myself that every time I take a breath, someone on the planet is dying, and someone else is being born. I'm glad I'm not the only one who does that!

J.

 

[An Officer]

The weirdest thing happened late last night, the clouds and smog actually cleared long enough for me to see the entire 0rion constellation while I brushed my teeth... just a wow moment! I think this is one of the few times in the last 20 years I have seen it in it's entirety. To think billions before me have contemplated the same sight... we come and go in an instant in cosmic terms, so weak and puny we are. Makes me want to cherish each moment all the more.

 

[Amaris]

The weirdest thing happened late last night, the clouds and smog actually cleared long enough for me to see the entire 0rion constellation while I brushed my teeth... just a wow moment! I think this is one of the few times in the last 20 years I have seen it in it's entirety. To think billions before me have contemplated the same sight... we come and go in an instant in cosmic terms, so weak and puny we are. Makes me want to cherish each moment all the more.

You brush your teeth from the water hose, too? (I'm kidding ).

There are times when just the pure awesome grand beauty that is the universe just makes you stop in your tracks.

Oh, and sorry if I'm posting too prolifically, I love talking about this kind of stuff!

J.

 

[Zulu Romeo]

The most beautiful sight I ever saw in the night sky was the vast bulk of the Milky Way Galaxy, as seen from the New Zealand countryside, far away from city lights. The stars themselves illuminated the countyside so well. It was the very first time I ever saw the Milky Way from the Southern Hemisphere, and it made me feel warm inside. And special that I've had the opportunity to be able to see things from there.

 

[Amaris]

The most beautiful sight I ever saw in the night sky was the vast bulk of the Milky Way Galaxy, as seen from the New Zealand countryside, far away from city lights. The stars themselves illuminated the countyside so well. It was the very first time I ever saw the Milky Way from the Southern Hemisphere, and it made me feel warm inside. And special that I've had the opportunity to be able to see things from there.

See, now that's just amazing. From where I live, I can't see the bulk of the Milky Way galaxy. It must be truly awe inspiring to see it all with your own eyes.

J.

 

[An Officer]

You brush your teeth from the water hose, too? (I'm kidding ).

Yeah, they let me out at night. I like to take a wonder around while I brush...

There are times when just the pure awesome grand beauty that is the universe just makes you stop in your tracks.

Oh, and sorry if I'm posting too prolifically, I love talking about this kind of stuff!

Threads are like plants, they need tending to. And I don't see you double posting, so keep going!

 

[Sakrysta]

My "oh wow" realization comes in the form of how fast we're moving through the universe. I don't know all the figures, but I know that even as I sit here, the planet is spinning extremely fast, while revolving around the sun even faster, while the whole solar system zips thru the galaxy - all in different directions. Why aren't we all perpetually dizzy? Sometime, go find a place where you can lie on your back and look at the sky, then ponder your universal speed, and see if you don't have the urge to clutch the ground beneath you before you fly off the earth!

I also occasionally find myself marveling at colors. The sky is blue, people! Almost every day! And it's a perfect shade, every time, whether it's the pale blue of a hot summer day, or the clear, piercing blue of fall. And the multitude of shades of green in the plant life that surrounds us! And how the greens and blues NEVER clash with one another. Then add in all the other colors and I have a hard time breathing. *sigh* And then I wonder if red looks the same to other people as it does to me - do our brains' interpretations of light waves match? If you could see the world through my eyes, would blue be red? Is that why we all have different tastes and favorite colors? Then take it to taste and smell and ever wonder HOW people can eat that food that you just canNOT stand the smell or taste of? Maybe their senses work differently from yours - if you smelled/tasted what they smelled/tasted, you'd like broccoli too!

Does the wind blow in your mitochondria?

 

[Capn Flukie]

This thread is heavy, man. *puffs*

 

[Zulu Romeo]

I also think about how Humanity came to be like this, having evolved the ability to use tools and master his environment. Just incredible to see that this creature with so much potential eventually did go on to great things, turn basic expressionism into advanced culture, transform their use of the world around them into multiply-layered industry from basic mining and farming to mass manufacturing of coat-hangers, explore their fledgling capacity for spirituality and self-identity and turn it into religion, and fulfil their basic instinct to protect and survive by creating systems of government to address the needs of the people in whatever way their leaders see is right for them.

And yet, just as the basic expressions of conflict were there in the past, so they evolved with the development of civilization: disapproval of expressionism leads to censorship and intolerance, abuse of the environment and tools leads to corruption and greed, disrespect of belief leads to fundamentalism and religious hatred, and disputes over the best interests of the people lead to wars and death. In many ways, despite the changes in technological and sociological terms, we haven't really changed our basic nature - just given different names and definitions for them.

Does the wind blow in your mitochondria?

Yes, but I'm taking Imodium for that.