Hubble Scientist Mario Livio: In an Immense Universe, Small is Significant

An Introduction to Dr. Mario Livio:

The Universe is big. Sometimes, it can feel a little too big. The sun, which is not a particularly large star, is roughly a million times the size of the Earth.* If the universe were scaled down so that the Sun were only 5 feet in diameter, the nearest star to us would still be 25,000 miles away.** There is so much ‘empty’ space in the universe that when the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies collide four billion years into the future, chances are that not a single star, of the more than a trillion involved, will collide with any other star.***

Humanity once assumed that we were the center of the cosmos, but as we come to the realization that our universe is more spectacular than we ever imagined, it becomes more difficult to define our place in it. In this film, astrophysicist Dr. Mario Livio reveals that in order to understand something unimaginably huge, it is important to remember the significance of the small.

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Sources:

Space Image Sources:

Thumbnail Source:
Credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble SM4 ERO Team

Music:

Transcendent by Craig Austin

Early Morning Sunrise by CharlesPerrault

[emylefabius]

The fact that he states that humans are made from stars is something that I've never heard before.  To think about that in terms of the universe is immense.

[pac]

I would love to hear more from Dr. Mario Livio!

[Pfeffy]

It's crazy to think we could've been made up of over 100 different stars. The Hubble has done so much for astrophysics- I look forward to the new technology that will come soon!

[eigeemars]

I love the part about how all our atoms are made in the stars, that was really cool.

[hillarycohen]

Perfect exampled of how size does not dictate importance :).

[Kneecap]

We may be small, but primordial quantum fluctuations can lead to very small I think on 10E-5 inhomogeneities in matter density. These can attract more mass and run away into everything we have today. Since life today also feedback on itself, our actions today will have run away significant effects in the future, in the universe. Especially if there is reason to believe we maybe the only life in the universe so far. Especially if it might have taken a large sample of multiverses. Although I may write this an infinite number of times.
  

[samtheriault]

It is very odd, yet very interesting, to think that we are made up of materials that were once part of stars.