How Big? / myLot

Derry, Northern Ireland

May 19, 2018 12:19pm CST

Douglas Adams described the planet Earth as an utterly insignificant little blue green planet orbiting a small unregarded yellow sun ... at a distance of roughly ninety-two million miles. I still think just how tiny our planet really is in comparison the the other planets in our own planetary system, let alone when compared to some of the other celestial bodies that astronomers can clearly see...

And we send craft out into the void, heading to Mars, to Jupiter and beyond...

So long and thanks for all the fish - Hitchhiker's Guide (HD)

youtu.be

Intro song to Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Anytime I wanted to listen to the song I'd come here, but an HD version of could never be found. Alas, here i...

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7 responses

M.-L.

@MALUSE (69416)

• Germany

19 May 18

There is a scene in one of Mark Twain's novels (can't remember which) in which someone is standing on a high ladder in front of a map of the universe looking for planet earth. After a long time, he finds a tiny spot which may be planet earth or the sh*t of a fly. It's not quite clear.

2 people like this

pgn

@pgntwo (22412)

• Derry, Northern Ireland

19 May 18

Interesting to be living on a speck of fly sh*t, nicht wahr?

pgn

@pgntwo (22412)

• Derry, Northern Ireland

19 May 18

@MALUSE Adams speaks to that in his book too, calling it The Total Perspective Vortex - this bit from the Original Radio series should give you a taste, when you have 3 minutes for a liten:

The Total Perspective Vortex

youtu.be

An extract from The Hitch-Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy BBC radio series by Douglas Adams, series 2, episode 2 (aka Fit The Eighth). Image is one of the 'Pale ...

M.-L.

@MALUSE (69416)

• Germany

19 May 18

@pgntwo Indeed it is. An effective cure against megalomania!

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@DaddyEvil (137145)

• United States

26 May 18

Hmmm... thinking about the incredible depth of space, not even sure how much we don't know always makes me feel insignificant. YouTube isn't working for me right now. Not sure what is wrong, either... *shrug* Edit to add: May I just say I am glad you were talking about planets, our sun and distances... I was a bit worried when I read your title.

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@DaddyEvil (137145)

• United States

5 Jun 18

@pgntwo

You're just jealous I did it so well, pgn!

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pgn

@pgntwo (22412)

• Derry, Northern Ireland

5 Jun 18

@DaddyEvil What a pair of cunning linguists we are, eh?

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pgn

@pgntwo (22412)

• Derry, Northern Ireland

5 Jun 18

@DaddyEvil No towel impropriety inferred or implied, see?

. Nice retraction, btw!

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rebelann1949

@rebelann (111081)

• El Paso, Texas

23 May 18

Oh dang it all. If Mars is that much smaller than Earth then no wonder Hominids destroyed it and came here millions of years ago. We're workin hard to destroy this one before we make it to the next one.

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rebelann1949

@rebelann (111081)

• El Paso, Texas

26 May 18

I just get the feeling that hominids originated on some other planet that they destroyed @pgntwo just look what we're do to our beautiful Earth.

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pgn

@pgntwo (22412)

• Derry, Northern Ireland

27 May 18

@rebelann Could be. The ancestors must have had their memories zapped tho... Imagine if the first alien we encounter is more or less a hominid like us....

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pgn

@pgntwo (22412)

• Derry, Northern Ireland

26 May 18

You reckon we're Martians at heart? There's a book about men from Mars and women from Venus, I think...

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Fiacre Banks

@xFiacre (12612)

• Ireland

19 May 18

@pgntwo Here's what I don't get. Some people don't like flying in planes because they don't feel safe hanging in mid air, but they don't mind living on a planet that hurtles through space with nothing holding it up.

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pgn

@pgntwo (22412)

• Derry, Northern Ireland

19 May 18

That makes me wonder too, as well as the bit about being upside-down for a fair proportion of the time. And yeah, that we're hurtling around the sun at some 30km per second (67,000 mph) is very impressive, given the sonic boom from breaking the sound barrier occurs at 0.33km/sec....

The Horse

@TheHorse (205250)

• Walnut Creek, California

19 May 18

I believe in a Horse-centric solar system, Copernicus be damned. Everything revolves around me.

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pgn

@pgntwo (22412)

• Derry, Northern Ireland

19 May 18

Ah, @TheHorse - you'd be heading for Orion's Belt, the Horsehead Nebula, no doubt:

Zooming in on the Horsehead Nebula (3D)

youtu.be

This video zooms into part of the sky in the constellation of Orion (The Hunter), showing the new infrared Hubble observations of the Horsehead Nebula (other...

pgn

@pgntwo (22412)

• Derry, Northern Ireland

19 May 18

@lnillerman I suspect t'is a joke, tbh...

Louise Crisologo

@mlgen1037 (29886)

• Manila, Philippines

19 May 18

This is interesting. I guess that is the reason that earth is the most unique of them all. Will be watching the video. Thank you.

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pgn

@pgntwo (22412)

• Derry, Northern Ireland

19 May 18

I hope you find it amusing, here's a US trailer for it:

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

youtu.be

Here's the absolutely hysterical, wonderfully wild, cosmic adventure comedy THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY. Based on Douglas Adams' worldwide best-sell...

1 person likes this

Louise Crisologo

@mlgen1037 (29886)

• Manila, Philippines

20 May 18

@pgntwo Thank you, PGN. Sure I did.