Take a tour of the known Universe

by Kraig Becker on

Ever ponder your place in the Universe? Asked the question “What’s out there?” Then this video is definitely for you. It was created for the Hayden Planetarium, located in New York City, and shows the entire known Universe, to scale. Be warned though, it can be quite a humbling experience.

The video begins by hovering over the Himalaya, the tallest mountains on Earth. Soon, the camera begins to rise, upward into orbit, and beyond. Before you know it, the solar system is but a speck, and then things really start to get interesting. By the time the video ends, you’ll not only get a glimpse of our place in the Universe, you’ll understand how really, really small this blue planet of ours really is. Amazing stuff.

World’s biggest optical telescope in the making

by Abha Malpani on

A 30-meter, $1-billion optical telescope that’s in the making promises to bring our Universe 10-times closer. A dream come true for astronomers, it will allow for the study of earlier galaxies, and maybe even take us into the space beyond our solar system.

Headed by the California Institute of Technology, the telescope is called the Thirty-Meter-Telescope or TMT and word is that it will exceed the capabilities of its rival telescopes: the 24.5 meter giant Magellan Telescope, and the 42-meter Extremely Long Telescope; and it is the biggest news to hit astronomy since the launch of NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope in 1990.

Plans are for it to be located in Mexico, Chile or Hawaii; the design is to be finalized in 2009 and its completion is tapped for 2016.

Look how far we have come: Galileo’s handmade telescope in the 17th Century — which was not more than 2-meters in size — to this humongous thing that will further revolutionize our understanding of what has so far been beyond us.

I think the fact that we were able to turn something that was once used to peek into our neighbors backyard, into something that allows you to look beyond your planet, is fascinating and so underrated. The boons of science never fail to leave me in awe.