Experts create rendition of our place in the grand scheme of things

Jan 19, 2012 16:03 GMT  ·  By

When I first saw this video, I thought I had a very good grasp on the scale of things in the Universe. But the scale of planets, galaxies, clusters and superclusters, as presented in this video, is simply too much to grasp. If you can understand it, then treat yourself to a mint.

We hear astronomers babbling about how large the Universe is every day, but it's not until we see a video rendition of it that we realize they are underestimating the truth. What is even more mind-boggling is that this video only contains known data.

Needless to say, we have not yet mapped the Universe to any meaningful extent. We do know how things are set up at a large scale, but the image is filled with gaps and blanks. Still, the purpose of the team that created this video was to present us with the concept of cosmic scale.

The video was produced by research astrophysicists at the American Museum of Natural History, in collaboration with colleagues at the Rubin Museum of Art, and is based on data in the Digital Universe Atlas. That being said, enjoy!