# The Largest Known Stars. (Cool nerd content)



## Popsyche (May 1, 2008)

This little animation is really cool. Take a couple minutes and watch the whole thing.


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## D-EJ915 (May 1, 2008)

orion is awesome because it has rigel and betelgeuse. rigel looks sweet,VV cephei owns


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## 7slinger (May 2, 2008)

that was pretty damn cool

I feel small and insignificant (I kinda did before I watched it anyways..)


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## Leon (May 2, 2008)




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## halsinden (May 2, 2008)

oh my word.

i had no idea even of the scale of many of our own system. 

all this time...

H


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## Mastodon (May 2, 2008)

I always like these, I think I prefer still pictures though. It gives you more time to soak it all in.


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## loktide (May 2, 2008)

i feel insignificant


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## halsinden (May 2, 2008)

loktide said:


> i feel insignificant



i feel puppies.

both professionally, _and_ inappropriately.

this would stop if people would only stop buying coloured guitars.

H


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## Leon (May 2, 2008)

anyone ever seen the Powers Of Ten video? it's on youtube, and i'd link-it if i wasn't at work. therefore, someone else should do it


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## Grom (May 2, 2008)

I guess it would take some time travelling North to South of VY Canis Majoris. With my bike.


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## Nick (May 2, 2008)

that was really cool.

still in human terms even jupiter is incomprehensibally huge


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## 7 Strings of Hate (May 2, 2008)

you feel insignificant when you watch that, but i also think to myself that vy caniris is so large that you cant even begin to understand its size, yet it cant think, or talk, or do any of the millions of complex things us tiny little humans can do.


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## playstopause (May 2, 2008)

Leon said:


> anyone ever seen the Powers Of Ten video? it's on youtube, and i'd link-it if i wasn't at work. therefore, someone else should do it


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## Sindwulf (May 5, 2008)

I love astronomy. I should have gone to school for that to work for NASA instead of trying to be a goddamn social worker.

PS.- I definitely want to want Canis Majoris collapse into a black whole while watching in a giant celestial lawn chair. Maybe If I pray to Hubard long enough, that'll happen.


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## Leon (May 5, 2008)

^ 

that'd be sweet


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## Nerina (May 5, 2008)

Now I REALLY feel like a retard. Ok, first of all, I will admit that I had no idea Sirius was a star, nevermind the brightest star in the sky, I was under the impression that the brightest star was the North Star....:

From Wiki: The current North Star is Polaris..... (Some people mistakenly think that Polaris is the brightest star in the night sky. This title belongs to Sirius, and there are many others stars also brighter than Polaris.)

Well, wow, as I hang my head in shame, all I can say is scientists have discovered a lot since I learned about stars and planets in the 3rd grade........


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## Leon (May 5, 2008)

modern astronomy is actually moving VERY fast. too fast for textbooks to keep up sufficiently enough to warrant a hardback edition. 90% of astronomy text books are paperbacks.


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## playstopause (May 5, 2008)

7 Strings of Hate said:


> you feel insignificant when you watch that...





It's just crazy how we're an atom lost out there. We humans should think about this more often, it would bring more humbleness upon us.


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## ohio_eric (May 5, 2008)

Well Carl Sagan did write The Pale Blue Dot to emphasize that very point. 


Nerina don't sweat thinking the North Star is the brighest star. Lot of people think that for some reason. 

How the hell would an entire constellation Canis Major collpase into a black hole? All the stars would have to be fairly close and all. 

Yes I'm a picky bitch. 

If you want to see how far astronomy has come then try and find a really old astronomy text from say over 50 years ago. 100 years old is even more entertaining.


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## Sindwulf (May 5, 2008)

Canis Majoris was the largest known star via that JPEG thing. Are you thinking of Ursa Major?


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## OrsusMetal (May 5, 2008)

I didn't even know of a lot of these stars...I can admit that. Shamefully.

The reason I feel shameful about it is because I find this kind of stuff fascinating. It's amazing that we know about such much out there, but humans ourselves have only stepped next door.


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## Popsyche (May 6, 2008)

OrsusMetal said:


> I didn't even know of a lot of these stars...I can admit that. Shamefully.
> 
> The reason I feel shameful about it is because I find this kind of stuff fascinating. It's amazing that we know about such much out there, but humans ourselves have only stepped next door.



...and to think we haven't even scratched the surface of what's really going on out there!


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## 74n4LL0 (May 6, 2008)

cool animation


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## ohio_eric (May 6, 2008)

Sindwulf said:


> Canis Majoris was the largest known star via that JPEG thing. Are you thinking of Ursa Major?



VY Canis Majoris is the largest star. Canis Majoris is the genitive of the constellation Canis Major. All stars with Canis Major are named with either Greek letters or Latin letters in front of them to identify them. 

But yeah I misread your post.


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## Vegetta (May 6, 2008)

hehe i Actually started a thread on this a while ago 
http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/off-topic/55678-size-stars-leon-content-yesway.html 

it is pretty freaking cool


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## sakeido (May 6, 2008)

Man, outer space is fucking cool. Its so intimidating.


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## ohio_eric (May 6, 2008)

"Nothing confounds me more than time and space. Yet nothing troubles me less."

Thomas Lamb


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## sakeido (May 6, 2008)

playstopause said:


>




I just got major chills


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## noodles (May 6, 2008)

playstopause said:


> It's just crazy how we're an atom lost out there. We humans should think about this more often, it would bring more humbleness upon us.



Yep. As large as the largest stars are, they are absolutely nothing compared to the supermassive black holes at the center of galaxies, which are absolutely nothing compared to galaxies, which are absolutely nothing compared to clusters of galaxies, which are absolutely nothing compared to the vast empty stretches of space that are out there between the clusters.

The universe is an incomprehensibly large place. It is boggles the mind to think that we can look up into the night sky, and see stars whose light took millions of years to reach us. Honestly, people who say that we are the only life in the universe are taking an incredibly arrogant and ignorant view of existence.


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## RgAscendant (May 6, 2008)

noodles said:


> Honestly, people who say that we are the only life in the universe are taking an incredibly arrogant and ignorant view of existence.



Exactly . There are some pretty awesome videos on YouTube displaying the same thing. It's pretty intimidating stuff to be honest. The last frame of that animation was totally awesome.


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## Popsyche (May 6, 2008)

Vegetta said:


> hehe i Actually started a thread on this a while ago
> http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/off-topic/55678-size-stars-leon-content-yesway.html
> 
> it is pretty freaking cool



Apologies for that!


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## sakeido (May 6, 2008)

noodles said:


> Honestly, people who say that we are the only life in the universe are taking an incredibly arrogant and ignorant view of existence.



In a universe of such immense size, to think that only one of over a billion billion stars has ever developed intelligent life is ridiculous. One in 10^18 odds are retarded, even by astronomy standards. Whether we'll ever meet these other people is a whole separate matter.. but we are certainly not alone here.


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## Sindwulf (May 6, 2008)

ohio_eric said:


> VY Canis Majoris is the largest star. Canis Majoris is the genitive of the constellation Canis Major. All stars with Canis Major are named with either Greek letters or Latin letters in front of them to identify them.
> 
> But yeah I misread your post.


 
Right on : ) and also, I didn't it made a difference with the VY. I suppose I should have added that when the jpeg did.


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## noodles (May 6, 2008)

Size Comparison of Stars and Planets - One Mans Blog


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## DevourTheDamned (May 7, 2008)

...and then one day you'll realize, just a spec in the spectrum, insignificant am i....


damn
sweet stars :]


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## MrRedRaider (May 11, 2008)

I wish there was a Google Earth type 3D space program that focused on the universe as a whole, approximating the locations of all the galaxies and such so you could navigate through what we know already in digital space. Maybe there is something like that already, but I would love to see it.


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## Kotex (May 11, 2008)

You guys might wanna' check out eSky: The Electronic Sky
It's a pretty cool site with a lot of interesting things.


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## Ramsay777 (May 11, 2008)

Wow. That's mental.


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## friendforafoe (May 12, 2008)

I feel really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really insignificant...much akin to walking into a gym shower and realizing your severly outsized (not that I have that problem )


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## daybean (May 12, 2008)

well maybe if i walked into a NBA shower.....who am i kidding?...


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## daybean (May 12, 2008)

cool, very nerdy...not at all...its very intresting. I can't believe some people that arent into this shit....nice thread.


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## Pauly (May 29, 2008)

MrRedRaider said:


> I wish there was a Google Earth type 3D space program that focused on the universe as a whole, approximating the locations of all the galaxies and such so you could navigate through what we know already in digital space. Maybe there is something like that already, but I would love to see it.



Download Google Earth and then click on the 'Sky' function, which is what you're after. 

Also fucking epic isn't it!


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