re Pluto: i.space.com/images/pluto-hubble-100204-02.jpg Hubble's most recent pics of Pluto are astonishing! For more here's a link to story on Space.com: New Views of Pluto Reveal Weird Bright Spot By Clara Moskowitz SPACE.com Staff Writer posted: 04 February 2010 01:49 pm ET This story was updated ...

re: Brin's concept of one more evolved space traveling species genetically manipulating the raw potential of a less evolved animalistic species with various results; maybe this isn't all that far-fetched given Drake's Equation . Perhaps Brin is much closer to the truth than mainstream science & ...

Kil Tyme, Regarding those areas you mentioned which aren't yet mapped---it's because these areas coincide with our galactic plane. It's a case of nearer (and brighter) objects blocking farther (and therefore dimmer) objects beyond our galaxy. Trust me, it isn't for lack of trying. :hithead: Stellar ...

It seems Gainesville turned a classroom project into a public art & social awareness project regardless of Pluto's status.

Awesome Menolly!

p.s. isn't Molley Hatchet from Gainesville?

Krazy Kat, what you attempted would make an awesome classroom project for middle school students! Again, it conveys a sense of scale. Proportionately speaking, there is just as much "space" within the atom as there is within the solar system. I seem to recall that if the sun were the size ...

How about Raymond Feist and his rift-war saga...Magician Apprentice & Master, Silverthorn, Darkness at Sethanon etc? I find that I identify quite closely with the character "Pug." I also fully appreciate Feist's concept of the Great Freedom which the nobility of the Kingdom of Isles ta...

danlo says: Speaking of movies The Core is, loosely, based on Earth. I didn't know that, thanx danlo! I've also read Glory Season and Otherness but no other titles of Brin's. I suppose I enjoy his work because he is an actual Astrophysicist and therefore writes plausible sci/fi based on his scientif...

OK lorin, how about the Simpsons' version? :lol: www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GDC3u8k02c Maybe the finite mind does have trouble wrapping around the infinite due to some inherent limitations. But then again, life is able to communicate with life, so perhaps consciousness gradually evolves from the finit...

Brin's official website: www.davidbrin.com/ wiki: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Brin I especially like his sci-fi work entitiled "Earth", "the Uplift Saga", and "the Uplift Trilogy." "Earth" was written in 1991 and it's amazing how much our current world is so m...

Another video which has been around for many years and I've seen in at least four classes, is called "the Powers of Ten." It also conveys a sense of scale which most deffinitely helps us to wrap our minds around the known universe.

You're welcomed, dlbpharmd! If you are interested, I'd like to recommend: The Astronomy Nexus Windows to the Universe Solstation Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (SEDS) [and] Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe for further study and self-education on this most fascinating topic...

The Universe within 5 million Light Years The Local Group of Galaxies www.atlasoftheuniverse.com/localgrp.gif The Milky Way is one of three large galaxies belonging to the group of galaxies called the Local Group which also contains several dozen dwarf galaxies. Most of these galaxies are depicted ...

The Universe within 5 million Light Years The Local Group of Galaxies www.atlasoftheuniverse.com/localgrp.gif The Milky Way is one of three large galaxies belonging to the group of galaxies called the Local Group which also contains several dozen dwarf galaxies. Most of these galaxies are depicted ...

The Universe within 500000 Light Years The Satellite Galaxies www.atlasoftheuniverse.com/satell.gif The Milky Way is surrounded by several dwarf galaxies, typically containing a few tens of millions of stars, which is insignificant compared with the number of stars in the Milky Way itself. This map...

The Universe within 50000 Light Years The Milky Way Galaxy www.atlasoftheuniverse.com/galaxy.gif This map shows the full extent of the Milky Way galaxy - a spiral galaxy of at least two hundred billion stars. Our Sun is buried deep within the Orion Arm about 26 000 light years from the centre. Towa...

The Universe within 5000 Light Years The Orion Arm www.atlasoftheuniverse.com/5000lys.gif This is a map of our corner of the Milky Way galaxy. The Sun is located in the Orion Arm - a fairly minor arm compared with the Sagittarius Arm, which is located closer to the galactic centre. The map shows se...

The Universe within 250 Light Years The Solar Neighborhood www.atlasoftheuniverse.com/250lys.gif This map is a plot of the 1500 most luminous stars within 250 light years. All of these stars are much more luminous than the Sun and most of them can be seen with the naked eye. About one third of the ...

What follows can be found at the Atlas of the Universe website. The Universe within 12.5 ly www.atlasoftheuniverse.com/12lys.gif This diagram represents the closest neighboring stars of the sun. This map shows all the star systems that lie within 12.5 light years of our Sun. Most of the stars are re...

ipac.jpl.nasa.gov/media_images/ssc2008-10b_small.jpg This is the most current (and hopefully accurate) annotated depiction of the Milky Way Galaxy. Much research & work has gone into providing empirical data for this diagram. For the last two and a half years, I have been a physics major with e...

I have really enjoyed the Sword of Truth series of books by Terry Goodkind. So I began watching the TV series with fairly low expectations. It's true that the TV series doesn't follow the plot of the books too closely. Much has been changed for reasons which have already been given on this thread. S...