Secret Worlds: The Universe Within

The universe is a very, very large place, indeed. However, it's also a very, very small place.

Permit me to explain.

The world of space is massive beyond human comprehension. It's so big that all of the matter that exists crowds space about as much as three wasps flying over Europe.

Yet the amount of matter is staggering. This planet we live on is an insignificant speck in the solar system, much less in the Milky Way galaxy itself.

Today's FamilyFirst pick gives you an idea of how large and tiny the universe is. It begins with a view of the galaxy from a distance, then you are zoomed in at regular intervals by a factor of ten. I'll let them explain:

View the Milky Way at 10 million light years from the Earth. Then move through space towards the Earth in successive orders of magnitude until you reach a tall oak tree just outside the buildings of the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory in Tallahassee, Florida. After that, begin to move from the actual size of a leaf into a microscopic world that reveals leaf cell walls, the cell nucleus, chromatin, DNA and finally, into the subatomic universe of electrons and protons.

It's a humbling trip, indeed.

http://www.micro.magnet.fsu.edu/primer/java/scienceopticsu/powersof10/

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