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Every time I see photos of the big gas planets like this, I imagine earth orbiting the gas giant and feel very, very small and get what feels like mild vertigo from the overwhelming scale. This is truly wonderful


If you think Saturn's big:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoW8Tf7hTGA

(though this sort of thing is far more impressive when seen in VR)

But even better than that, for me, is going somewhere with very little light pollution at night and simply looking up at the Milky Way. Nothing makes me feel smaller and more in awe.


My favorite segment of that is the universe's "web" of galaxies. There's something pleasing about the way they've all arranged themselves. Much more pleasing than the clustering of stars in a galaxy.


I like how, when showing the increasing star size, they show a little piece of the next, bigger, star just to let you know "hey, we're not done yet!". There are big things out there, people.


For me personally this is the definitive video of "practical scale". It doesn't go out of its way to dazzle me with larger and larger pieces of an incomprehensibly large puzzle. Instead it is a simple cause + potential effect, nothing more ;)

https://youtu.be/HFT7ATLQQx8?t=55


Personally I find that pictures and the idea of those giant super smooth planets make me feel uneasy and downright scary.

Something along the line; "Way too big, way too smooth to be natural. Almost hostile, evil"


Have you played SpaceChem? You should, if not.


I'll give a try.


It always reminds me about Total Perspective Vortex.




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