Magnifying the Universe: Move From Atoms to Galaxies in HD


Copyright 2012. Magnifying the Universe by Number Sleuth.

Before you do anything else, click on the image above and then move little slider (along the bottom of the image) from left to right. Now watch the universe fly by, going from macro to micro. Pretty cool, no? Now read on:

This dynamic infographic comes to us via Number Sleuth, who describes their wonderful creation as follows:

This interactive infographic accurately illustrates the scale of over 100 items within the observable universe ranging from galaxies to insects, nebulae and stars to molecules and atoms. Numerous hot points along the zoom slider allow for direct access to planets, animals, the hydrogen atom and more. As you scroll, a handy dial spins to show you your present magnification level.

While other sites have tried to magnify the universe, no one else has done so with real photographs and 3D renderings….We hope you have a blast magnifying the universe, know that each time you zoom in a depth, you’re magnifying the universe 10x … and every time you zoom out, the bigger objects are 1/10th of their prior size. If you zoom from the biggest object, The Observable Universe, all the way down to the hydrogen atom’s proton nucleus, you will have zoomed in over 100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000x! Unbelievable isn’t it? Our universe really is immensely massive and surprisingly small.

If you’re familiar with the work of Ray and Charles Eames, this infographic will almost certainly remind you of Powers of Ten, the Eames’ 1977 film. That’s something we’re going to talk about more on Monday. For more info on how to use Magnifying the Universe, please see the instructions here

via @coudal


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Comments (9)
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  • Martin says:

    have a look at http://htwins.net/scale2/ which is also a nice scaling application.

    thank you for this very nice blog. it is one of my favorites in my list.

  • alvin ochanda says:

    this is wonderfully amazing,good work guys for giving us the feel,

  • Mrs. Busby says:

    Can you please write this in HTML5. I would like to be able to view it on Apple devices.

  • chloe wiles says:

    i am a 15 year old who sells her body for food. yes, i know it is very sad but it has to be done. please forgive me for all the ppl who caught sti’s because of me

  • S. Nazarelly says:

    Sirs,

    Would you please clarify, for us poor un-Americans, whether the abbreviation “m” used in the measurements stands for ‘miles’ or for ‘meters’ ?

  • L. Schuhmann says:

    This is awesome! My science teacher showed this to us and it expanded my conception of the universe. Thank you so much for making this! My suggestion, though, is to add more objects between the Earth and small animals, and maybe try to add subatomic particles. Also, maybe show more stars, planets, and galaxies. Finally, maybe try to make it more accurate because Texas is not as big as Pluto. Thanks again, and please consider this.

  • bob says:

    its blocked :(

  • teacher says:

    I have shown this site to my students for years. Now this year I am unable to show them the awesomeness during our universe unit. So disappointing.

  • Anna says:

    I have also whown this site many times Before, but can’t make it work now. :(

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