Humanity occupies a very modest place not only in the Universe, but also in its home galaxy - the Milky Way. Astronomer Adam Grossman recently pointed out its location to us in his blog - a small yellow dot. The diameter of this point is only 240 light years - really tiny compared to the entire galactic spiral, whose diameter is more than 100 thousand light years.

The dot, or as Grossman called it, the “Bubble of Humanity,” is a sphere whose boundary is the first radio transmission. Radio was invented in 1895. Since then, science has known that artificial electromagnetic signals fly through space in all directions at the speed of light. The sphere filled with these signals expands at the same speed. It occupies areas where someone can hear them (the signals), or at least understand that they are picking up something artificial. If, of course, there - in the worlds inside the sphere - there is a corresponding invention like a radio. Not to mention the radio telescope. Since the “Bubble of Humanity” has so far inflated by a little more than 200 light years, the worlds located further away are unlikely to know about our intelligent existence.

No one has responded to our “request” yet. At least scientists have not yet caught anything encouraging - neither alien radio transmissions, nor at least some artificial signals. Maybe there are no suitable aliens in our “bubble”? Asking himself this question, Adam Grossman reported that he felt very lonely. We live in this “bubble” 240 light years in size.

Seth Shostak, director of the program for searching for signals from extraterrestrial civilizations, believes that it is too late to hide. After all, the “Bubble of Humanity” is actually not so small. Radio waves from Earth, propagating since the beginning of the era of radio broadcasting, have “washed” more than 6 thousand star systems. And every day, signals from human civilization reach at least one new system.

It is unlikely that aliens - even the most advanced ones - listen to earthly radio or watch our television. With distance, the “broadcast” is greatly distorted. But they can recognize it as an artificial source and detect its coordinates. According to the scientist, technology, which is one hundred and two hundred years ahead of human technology, is capable of this. In other words, we have already given away our location. And we will continue to issue, even after “silencing”.

Shostak’s opinion is shared by the chief researcher at the Institute of Radio Engineering and Electronics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences Alexander Zaitsev.

“I don’t think that earthlings need to hide from anyone,” he believes. – If we assume that there is a powerful aggressive civilization, noticeably ahead of us in development, then you cannot hide from it. And if their technology is so developed that they can attack the Earth, it means that they have long detected radio waves - for example, our satellite television - and know everything about us.

On the other hand, if somewhere there is a civilization comparable in level of development to us, then by establishing radio contact with it, we do not risk anything. Neither our nor their technology is capable of flying from one star to another in a short enough time.

Disputes on this topic have not subsided for many decades. We invite you to familiarize yourself with a completely unique, and at the same time, detailed and substantiated hypothesis regarding life in the Universe and the history of mankind in the books of A. Novykh (click on the quote below and you can download the entire book)

Read more about this in the books of Anastasia Novykh

But what, there are higher forms of life? - Andrey asked, obviously trying to learn more from Sensei on this issue.

Certainly. There are higher forms of life. But they do not concern our topic today. Let's just say that there is plenty of diversity of life forms in the Universe. As for the humanoid life form, it is quite young. It exists in the Universe by earthly standards for only some four hundred million years. This is not so much in cosmic terms. In general, in our galaxy, a humanoid life form appeared sixty-four million one hundred fourteen thousand six hundred ninety-four years ago (64,114,694). Today there are over one hundred and forty billion active galaxies, and less than one hundred billion planets inhabited by humanoids. In our Solar System, human-like life appeared one million two hundred and fifty-two thousand seven hundred and fifty-eight years ago (1,252,758). And the first planet in our solar system that was inhabited by humanoids was Phaethon, and much later the Earth.

Just think, a hundred billion planets inhabited by people! - Victor said admiringly. - And we still believe that our Universe is deserted. We are still arguing whether there is life in the Universe or whether we are the only “geeks”. It’s just that after so many years of instilling loneliness, it’s somehow hard to believe that we, it turns out, are not alone.

What about our unanswered radio signals into space? - Zhenya said, not without a bit of humor.

Radio signals? - Sensei grinned. - Well, here's a simple example for you. In 1974, a radio message was sent from the Arecibo Observatory in the direction of the globular star cluster M13, which is in the constellation Hercules, since it contains about a million stars similar to the Sun, and naturally, there are various forms of life. But this signal will get there only after twenty-five thousand years, if you count from the day of launch. But due to the expansion of the Universe, by the time the signal reaches that place, that globular cluster will no longer be there, since it will have long ago moved to another place. This is the first thing. Secondly. Our current civilization has existed for about twelve thousand years, and even today it knows practically little about the first millennia of its existence. Valuable knowledge has been lost due to human greed and stupidity, megalomania and, as a result, constant wars for the main idea of ​​the Animal nature - to individually own and control the entire world. What do you think, will this humanity even exist in twenty-five thousand years if its majority will be people with the ambitions of the Animal nature?

Moreover, humanoids belong to temporary types of civilizations that are quickly lost. After all, man, because of his Animal nature, is initially set up for self-destruction. On the scale of humanoid civilization, this stimulus of the Animal nature manifests itself in self-destruction and the elimination of each other. From the pitiful remnants, an update is again taking place from scratch, and history repeats itself.

- Anastasia NOVIKH Sensei IV

Typically, we think of a year as a fairly long period of time. In human terms, a lot can happen in 365 days (or so). But compared to the Universe, it is literally an instant. And even for this short period As a year progresses, subtle changes occur in our solar system, our galaxy, and the universe that add up to large, slow changes on enormous time scales. Published on the web portal

The Earth's rotation has slowed down

Of course, you hardly noticed it. The time it takes for the Earth to rotate once around its axis - a day - is 14 nanoseconds more than what it took for such a rotation a year ago. It follows from this that at dawn solar system a day on Earth was shorter: the Earth rotated in 6-8 hours, since the year consisted of more than a thousand days. But slow rotation is just the beginning.

The moon is farther this year than last year

Again, you probably won't notice it, but there is a fundamental conservation law that makes this necessary: ​​the law of conservation of angular momentum. Imagine the Earth - Moon system: they rotate around their axes, while the Moon revolves around the Earth. If the Earth's rotation is slowing down, this means that something needs to balance this loss. This something is the Moon orbiting the Earth: the Moon moves away to preserve the system.

The sun is hotter than it was a year ago

The Sun converts matter into energy, losing approximately 1017 kg of mass per year according to Einstein's formula E = mc2. As the sun burns fuel, it gets hotter and begins to burn fuel faster, leading to an overall increase in energy output. In the distant future, the Sun will become hot enough to boil the Earth's oceans and end life as we know it. Eventually, global warming caused by the Sun will end us all. And all this is only in our solar system; the galaxy and everything beyond it has also changed in a year.

The universe is colder this year than last

The afterglow of the Big Bang is terribly cold. This cooling and expansion will continue until it reaches absolute zero. In a year we are unlikely to notice the difference, but water wears away stones. A few dozen more ages of the Universe - and we will no longer know that the cosmic microwave background ever existed.

20,000 stars have become unattainable for us

Dark energy continues to gain power and increase the expansion of the Universe, accelerating the retreat of distant galaxies. Of all the observed galaxies in the Universe, 97% have become lost to us forever. But the remaining 3% are not just huddling nearby, they are also running away faster and faster. With each passing year, 20,000 new stars that were reachable (at the speed of light) became unreachable.

Today we will talk about the fact that the Earth is small and about the sizes of other huge celestial bodies in the Universe. What are the sizes of the Earth compared to other planets and stars of the Universe.

In fact, our planet is very, very small... compared to many other celestial bodies, and even compared to the same Sun, the Earth is a pea (a hundred times smaller in radius and 333 thousand times smaller in mass), and there are stars in times, hundreds, thousands (!!) times more than the Sun... In general, we, people, and each of us especially, are microscopic traces of existence in this Universe, atoms invisible to the eyes of creatures who could live on huge stars (theoretically, but , perhaps practically).

Thoughts from the film on the topic: it seems to us that the Earth is big, it is so - for us, since we ourselves are small and the mass of our body is insignificant in comparison with the scale of the Universe, some have never even been abroad and do not leave for most of their lives They know almost nothing beyond the confines of a house, a room, and even about the Universe. And the ants think that their anthill is huge, but we will step on the ant and not even notice it. If we had the power to reduce the Sun to the size of a white blood cell and reduce the Milky Way in proportion, then it would be equal to the scale of Russia. But there are thousands or even millions and billions of galaxies besides the Milky Way... This cannot possibly fit into people’s consciousness.

Every year, astronomers discover thousands (or more) of new stars, planets, and celestial bodies. Space is an unexplored area, and how many more galaxies, star, planetary systems will be discovered, and it is quite possible that there are many similar solar systems with theoretically existing life. We can judge the sizes of all celestial bodies only approximately, and the number of galaxies, systems, and celestial bodies in the Universe is unknown. However, based on known data, the Earth is not the smallest object, but it is far from the largest; there are stars and planets hundreds, thousands of times larger!!

The largest object, that is, a celestial body, is not defined in the Universe, since human capabilities are limited, with the help of satellites and telescopes we can see only a small part of the Universe, and we do not know what is there, in the unknown distance and beyond the horizons... perhaps even larger ones celestial bodies than those discovered by people.

So, within the Solar System, the largest object is the Sun! Its radius is 1,392,000 km, followed by Jupiter - 139,822 km, Saturn - 116,464 km, Uranus - 50,724 km, Neptune - 49,244 km, Earth - 12,742.0 km, Venus - 12,103.6 km, Mars - 6780.0 km, etc.

Several dozen large objects - planets, satellites, stars and several hundred small ones, these are only those that have been discovered, but there are some that have not been discovered.

The Sun is larger than the Earth in radius - more than 100 times, in mass - 333 thousand times. These are the scales.

Earth is the 6th largest object in the solar system, very close to the scale of Earth, Venus, and Mars is half the size.

The Earth is generally a pea compared to the Sun. And all the other planets, smaller ones, are practically dust for the Sun...

However, the Sun warms us regardless of its size and our planet. Did you know, did you imagine, walking with your feet on mortal soil, that our planet in comparison with the Sun is almost a point? And accordingly, we are microscopic microorganisms on it...

However, people have a lot of pressing problems, and sometimes there is no time to look beyond the ground under their feet.

Jupiter is more than 10 times larger than Earth, it is the fifth planet farthest from the Sun (classified as a gas giant along with Saturn, Uranus, Neptune).

After the gas giants, the Earth is the first largest object in the solar system after the Sun. then come the rest of the terrestrial planets, Mercury after the satellite of Saturn and Jupiter.

The terrestrial planets - Mercury, Earth, Venus, Mars - are planets located in the inner region of the Solar System.

Pluto is about one and a half times smaller than the Moon, today it is classified as a dwarf planet, it is the tenth celestial body in the solar system after 8 planets and Eris (a dwarf planet approximately similar in size to Pluto), consists of ice and stones, with an area of South America, a small planet, however, it is larger in scale in comparison with the Earth and the Sun, the Earth is still two times smaller in proportions.

For example, Ganymede is a satellite of Jupiter, Titan is a satellite of Saturn - only 1.5 thousand km less than Mars and more than Pluto and large dwarf planets. Dwarf planets and satellites discovered in Lately- a lot, and even more stars, more than several million, or even billions.

There are several dozen objects in the solar system that are slightly smaller than the Earth and half smaller than the Earth, and several hundred of those that are slightly smaller. Can you imagine how many things are flying around our planet? However, to say “flies around our planet” is incorrect, because as a rule, each planet has some relatively fixed place in the solar system.

And if some asteroid is flying towards the Earth, then it is even possible to calculate its approximate trajectory, flight speed, time of approach to the Earth, and with the help of certain technologies and devices (such as hitting the asteroid with the help of super-powerful atomic weapons in order to destroy part of the meteorite and how consequence of a change in speed and flight path) change the direction of flight if the planet is in danger.

However, this is a theory; such measures have not yet been applied in practice, but cases of unexpected falls of celestial bodies to Earth have been recorded - for example, in the case of the same Chelyabinsk meteorite.

In our minds, the Sun is a bright ball in the sky; in the abstract, it is some kind of substance that we know about from satellite images, observations and experiments of scientists. However, all we see with our own eyes is a bright ball in the sky that disappears at night. If you compare the sizes of the Sun and the earth, then it’s about the same as a toy car and a huge jeep; the jeep will crush the car without even noticing it. Likewise, the Sun, if it had at least a little more aggressive characteristics and an unrealistic ability to move, would have absorbed everything in its path, including the Earth. By the way, one of the theories of the death of the planet in the future says that the Sun will engulf the Earth.

We are accustomed, living in a limited world, to believe only what we see and take for granted only what is under our feet and perceive the Sun as a ball in the sky that lives for us, in order to illuminate the path for mere mortals, to warm us, to give we use the Sun to its fullest extent, and the idea that this bright star carries a potential danger seems ridiculous. And only a few people will seriously think that there are other galaxies in which there are celestial objects hundreds and sometimes thousands of times larger than those in the solar system.

People simply cannot comprehend in their minds what the speed of light is, how celestial bodies move in the Universe, these are not the formats of human consciousness...

We talked about the sizes of celestial bodies within the Solar System, about the sizes of large planets, we said that the Earth is the 6th largest object in the Solar System and that the Earth is a hundred times smaller than the Sun (in diameter), and 333 thousand times in mass , however, there are celestial bodies in the Universe MUCH larger than the Sun. And if the comparison of the Sun and the Earth did not fit into the consciousness of mere mortals, then the fact that there are stars in comparison with which the Sun is a ball - is even more impossible to fit into us.

However, according to scientific research, this is true. And this is a fact, based on the data obtained by astronomers. There are other star systems where planetary life exists similar to ours, the Solar one. By “life of the planets” we do not mean earthly life with people or other creatures, but the existence of planets in this system. So, on the question of life in Space - every year, every day, scientists come to the conclusion that life on other planets is more and more possible, but this remains only speculation. In the solar system, the only planet close in conditions to those on Earth is Mars, but the planets of other star systems have not been fully explored.

For example:

“It is believed that Earth-like planets are the most favorable for the emergence of life, so the search for them attracts close public attention. So in December 2005, scientists from the Space Science Institute (Pasadena, California) reported the discovery of a Sun-like star around which rocky planets are believed to be forming.

Subsequently, planets were discovered that were only several times more massive than the Earth and would probably have a solid surface.

An example of terrestrial exoplanets are super-Earths. As of June 2012, more than 50 super-Earths have been found."

These super-Earths are potential carriers of life in the Universe. Although this is a question, since the main criterion for the class of such planets is a mass more than 1 times the mass of the Earth, however, all discovered planets revolve around stars with less thermal radiation compared to the Sun, usually white, red and orange dwarfs.

The first super-Earth discovered in the habitable zone in 2007 was the planet Gliese 581 c near the star Gliese 581, the planet had a mass of about 5 Earth masses, “removed from its star by 0.073 AU.” That is, and is located in the “life zone” of the star Gliese 581.” Later, a number of planets were discovered near this star and today they are called a planetary system; the star itself has a low luminosity, several tens of times less than the Sun. It was one of the most sensational discoveries in astronomy.

However, let's return to the topic of big stars.

Below are photos of the largest solar system objects and stars in comparison with the Sun, and then with the last star in the previous photo.

Mercury< Марс < Венера < Земля;

Earth< Нептун < Уран < Сатурн < Юпитер;

Jupiter< < Солнце < Сириус;

Sirius< Поллукс < Арктур < Альдебаран;

Aldebaran< Ригель < Антарес < Бетельгейзе;

Betelgeuse< Мю Цефея < < VY Canis Major

And this list also includes the smallest stars and planets (the only truly large star on this list is probably the star VY Canis Majoris). The largest ones cannot even be compared with the Sun, since the Sun simply will not be visible.

The equatorial radius of the Sun was used as a unit of measurement for the radius of the star - 695,700 km.

For example, the star VV Cephei is 10 times larger than the Sun, and between the Sun and Jupiter the largest star is considered to be Wolf 359 (a single star in the constellation Leo, a faint red dwarf).

VV Cephei (not to be confused with the star of the same name with the “prefix” A) - “An eclipsing binary star of the Algol type in the constellation Cepheus, which is located at a distance of about 5000 light years from Earth. Component A is the seventh largest star known to science in radius as of 2015 and the second largest star in the Milky Way Galaxy (after VY Canis Majoris)."

“Capella (α Aur / α Auriga / Alpha Aurigae) is the brightest star in the constellation Auriga, the sixth brightest star in the sky and the third brightest in the sky of the Northern Hemisphere.”

The capella is 12.2 times the radius of the Sun.

The polar star is 30 times larger in radius than the Sun. A star in the constellation Ursa Minor, located near North Pole world, supergiant of spectral class F7I.

Star Y Canes Venatici is larger than the Sun by (!!!) 300 times! (that is, about 3000 times larger than the Earth), a red giant in the constellation Canes Venatici, one of the coolest and reddest stars. And this is far from the largest star.

For example, the star VV Cephei A is 1050-1900 times larger in radius than the Sun! And the star is very interesting for its inconstancy and “leakage”: “luminosity is 275,000-575,000 times greater. The star fills the Roche lobe, and its material flows to the neighboring companion. The speed of gas outflow reaches 200 km/s. It has been established that VV Cephei A is a physical variable pulsating with a period of 150 days.”

Of course, most of us will not understand information in scientific terms, if succinctly - a red-hot star losing matter. Its size, strength, and brightness of luminosity are simply impossible to imagine.

So, the 5 largest stars in the Universe (recognized as those currently known and discovered), in comparison with which our Sun is a pea and a speck of dust:

— VX Sagittarius is 1520 times the diameter of the Sun. A supergiant, hypergiant, variable star in the constellation Sagittarius loses its mass due to stellar wind.

— Star WOH G64 from the constellation Doradus, a red supergiant of spectral class M7.5, is located in the neighboring Large Magellanic Cloud galaxy. The distance to the solar system is approximately 163 thousand light years. years. 1540 times greater than the radius of the Sun.

— NML Cygnus (V1489 Cygnus) is 1183 - 2775 times larger in radius than the Sun, - “the star, a red hypergiant, is located in the constellation Cygnus.”

“UY Scuti is a star (hypergiant) in the constellation Scutum. Located at a distance of 9500 sv. years (2900 pc) from the Sun.

It is one of the largest and brightest stars known. According to scientists, the radius of UY Scuti is equal to 1708 solar radii, the diameter is 2.4 billion km (15.9 AU). At the peak of the pulsations, the radius can reach 2000 solar radii. The volume of the star is approximately 5 billion times the volume of the Sun."

From this list we see that there are about a hundred (90) stars much larger than the Sun (!!!). And there are stars on a scale on which the Sun is a speck, and the Earth is not even dust, but an atom.

The fact is that the places in this list are distributed according to the principle of accuracy in determining the parameters, mass, there are approximately larger stars than UY Scuti, but their sizes and other parameters have not been established for certain, however, the parameters of this star may one day come into question. It is clear that stars 1000-2000 times larger than the Sun exist.

And, perhaps, there are or are forming planetary systems around some of them, and who will guarantee that there cannot be life there... or not now? Wasn't there or never will be? Nobody... We know too little about the Universe and Space.

Yes, and even of the stars presented in the pictures - the very last star - VY Canis Majoris has a radius equal to 1420 solar radii, but the star UY Scuti at the peak of pulsation is about 2000 solar radii, and there are stars supposedly larger than 2.5 thousand solar radii. Such scales are impossible to imagine; these are truly extraterrestrial formats.

Of course, an interesting question is - look at the very first picture in the article and at the last photos, where there are many, many stars - how do so many celestial bodies coexist in the Universe quite calmly? There are no explosions, no collisions of these very supergiants, because the sky, from what is visible to us, is teeming with stars... In fact, this is just the conclusion of mere mortals who do not understand the scale of the Universe - we see a distorted picture, but in fact there is enough room for everyone there , and perhaps there are explosions and collisions, but this simply does not lead to the death of the Universe and even part of the galaxies, because the distance from star to star is enormous.

All people experience mixed feelings when they look into the starry sky on a clear night. All problems ordinary person begin to be seen as insignificant, and everyone begins to think about the meaning of their existence. The night sky seems overwhelmingly huge, but in reality we can only see the immediate surroundings.

Below is a post about how vast and amazing our Universe is.

This is Earth. This is where we live.

And this is where we are in our solar system.

Scaled distance between the Earth and the Moon. Doesn't look too big, right?

It's worth thinking again though. Within this distance you can place all the planets of our solar system, beautifully and neatly.

But the size of the Earth (well, six Earths) compared to Saturn.

If our planet had rings like Saturn, they would look like this.

There are tons of comets between our planets. This is what one of them looks like compared to Los Angeles.

But this is still nothing compared to our Sun. Just take a look.

This is what we look like from Mars.

Looking out from behind the rings of Saturn.

This is what our planet looks like from the edge of the solar system.

Comparison of the scales of the Earth and the Sun. It's scary, isn't it?

And here is the same Sun from the surface of Mars.

But that's nothing. They say there are more stars in space than there are grains of sand on all the beaches on Earth.

And there are stars much larger than our little Sun. Just look how tiny it is compared to the star in the constellation Canis Major.

But none of them can compare with the size of the galaxy. If you shrink the Sun to the size of a white blood cell and shrink the Milky Way Galaxy by the same ratio, it will be the size of the United States.

The Milky Way is huge. We are somewhere here.

But that's all we can see.

However, even our galaxy is short compared to some others. Here's the Milky Way compared to IC 1011.

Just think about everything that could be inside there.

Just keep in mind - an illustration of a very small part of the universe. A small part of the night sky.

And it is quite possible to assume that there are black holes there. Here's the size of the black hole compared to Earth's orbit, just for fun

So if you're ever upset that you missed your favorite TV show... just remember...

This is your home

This is your home on the scale of the solar system

And this is what happens if you zoom out.

Let's continue...

And a bit more…

Almost…

And here it is. That's all there is in the observable Universe. And this is our place in it. Just a tiny ant in a giant jar

Without a doubt, we don't know much about our Universe. In addition, now we have more clever theories about things unknown to us than real knowledge. But among those things that we already know, we can highlight these 10 amazing facts about the Universe.

1. It was very hot when she appeared

The Big Bang Theory- This is one of the versions of the origin of the Universe, widely accepted throughout the world. According to this theory, the temperature of the Universe at birth was millions of degrees Celsius or billions of Kelvin, and a second before birth it reached 10 billion Kelvin.

2. It cools down gradually

Today's Universe has a temperature of about 451 degrees Celsius or 2.725 Kelvin. Compared to the temperature at which it originated, we can confidently say that the temperature has dropped significantly.

3. Size of the Universe

Modern calculations have shown that the width of the Universe is 150 billion light years. Given the fact that it continues to expand, it can be assumed that it will become wider by another billion light years.

4. Age of the Universe

It is estimated that the age of the Universe is 13.7 billion years. However, this is mostly a guess and this number has a 1% chance of being accurate.

5. Structure of the Universe

There are a huge number of systems in the Universe, including filaments, super-clusters and groups of galaxies and clusters. Most of them are void spaces or outer space.

6.

Photo: Sweetie / flickr

Considering the fact that the earth is far from flat, this is definitely one of the most amazing facts about the universe. Based on Einstein's Theory of Relativity, there are three basic shapes of the Universe: open, closed and flat. Research by the WMAP space observatory has proven that the shape of the Universe is flat.

7. We can't see her completely

There are many aspects of the universe that we simply cannot penetrate. Although different wavelengths in the electromagnetic spectrum, such as radio waves, infrared and x-rays, and visible light, help us see more, there is still much that cannot be seen with the naked eye.

8. The Universe has no center

It seems to me that this amazing fact is difficult to understand. Many people imagine a big explosion, and the epicenter of the explosion will be the center of the Universe, but in reality this is not the case.

9. Parts of the Universe are moving away from each other

The universe is expanding, and all its parts are moving away from each other. For example, even the Moon is moving away from the Earth at a speed of 3 cm per year.

10. Comparison with ultra-small structures

The teaching believes that in order to understand all the secrets of the Universe, a deep study of smaller structures, smaller in size than an atom, is necessary.

I hope these 10 amazing facts about our universe give you another reason to appreciate the place we live in and of which we are a part. The universe is much larger than we can imagine. And there are many more of her mysteries that will forever remain a mystery to us.