Isn’t it
beautiful? This is an illustrated logarithmic scale conception of the
observable Universe with the Solar System at the center.
Encircling
the Solar System are the inner and outer planets, Kuiper belt, Oort cloud,
Alpha Centauri star, Perseus Arm, Milky Way galaxy, Andromeda galaxy, other
nearby galaxies, the cosmic web, cosmic microwave radiation, and invisible plasma produced by the Big Bang at the very edges. See below for uncropped and
zoomable versions.
the Solar System are the inner and outer planets, Kuiper belt, Oort cloud,
Alpha Centauri star, Perseus Arm, Milky Way galaxy, Andromeda galaxy, other
nearby galaxies, the cosmic web, cosmic microwave radiation, and invisible plasma produced by the Big Bang at the very edges. See below for uncropped and
zoomable versions.
Created by
musician and artist Pablo Carlos Budassi, the image is based on logarithmic
maps of the Universe put together by Princeton University researchers, as well
as images produced by NASA based on observations made by their telescopes and
roving spacecraft.
musician and artist Pablo Carlos Budassi, the image is based on logarithmic
maps of the Universe put together by Princeton University researchers, as well
as images produced by NASA based on observations made by their telescopes and
roving spacecraft.
The
Princeton team, led by astronomers J Richard Gott and Mario Juric, based their
logarithmic map of the Universe on data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey,
which over the past 15 years has been using a 2.5-metre, wide-angle optical
telescope at Apache Point Observatory in New Mexico to create the most detailed
three-dimensional maps of the Universe ever made, including spectra for more
than 3 million astronomical objects.
Princeton team, led by astronomers J Richard Gott and Mario Juric, based their
logarithmic map of the Universe on data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey,
which over the past 15 years has been using a 2.5-metre, wide-angle optical
telescope at Apache Point Observatory in New Mexico to create the most detailed
three-dimensional maps of the Universe ever made, including spectra for more
than 3 million astronomical objects.
Logarithmic
maps are a really handy way of visualizing something as inconceivably huge as
the observable Universe, because each increment on the axes increases by a
factor of 10 (or order of magnitude) rather than by equal increments. The
Princeton team published them in the Astrophysical Journal back in 2005, but
you can browse through and download them at this website.
maps are a really handy way of visualizing something as inconceivably huge as
the observable Universe, because each increment on the axes increases by a
factor of 10 (or order of magnitude) rather than by equal increments. The
Princeton team published them in the Astrophysical Journal back in 2005, but
you can browse through and download them at this website.
While
incredibly helpful, logarithmic maps aren’t much to look at, so Pablo Carlos
Budassi decided to make something a bit more palatable. According to Kelly Dickerson over at Tech Insider, he got the idea of turning it into a giant
circle when making hexaflexagons for his son’s birthday one year. Hexaflexagons
are paper polygons with a deceptively large number of faces – you probably made
them in school without knowing their proper name.
incredibly helpful, logarithmic maps aren’t much to look at, so Pablo Carlos
Budassi decided to make something a bit more palatable. According to Kelly Dickerson over at Tech Insider, he got the idea of turning it into a giant
circle when making hexaflexagons for his son’s birthday one year. Hexaflexagons
are paper polygons with a deceptively large number of faces – you probably made
them in school without knowing their proper name.
Pablo Carlos
Budassi
Budassi
“[W]hen
I was drawing hexaflexagons for my son’s birthday souvenirs, I started drawing
central views of the cosmos and the Solar System,” Budassi told Tech Insider. “That day the idea of a logarithmic view came, and in the next
days I was able to [assemble] it with Photoshop using images from NASA and some
textures created [on] my own.“
I was drawing hexaflexagons for my son’s birthday souvenirs, I started drawing
central views of the cosmos and the Solar System,” Budassi told Tech Insider. “That day the idea of a logarithmic view came, and in the next
days I was able to [assemble] it with Photoshop using images from NASA and some
textures created [on] my own.“
Head here
for a full-sized version of the image by Budassi, and watch below to see a different kind of cosmic visualization produced by astronomers at the
University of Hawaii – this one is of our Milky Way galaxy, in relation to
100,000 neighboring galaxies:
for a full-sized version of the image by Budassi, and watch below to see a different kind of cosmic visualization produced by astronomers at the
University of Hawaii – this one is of our Milky Way galaxy, in relation to
100,000 neighboring galaxies:
