Gerald Alan π¬π§πΊπ¦πͺπΊ
Wonder of ScienceThe speed of light visualized on a cosmic scale.
Credit: @Physicsj
Sensational GusHuh, a lot slower than youβd think. What are we so afraid of? FTL DRIVES NOW!
Labelizer |πΉ | π³οΈβπ |π@labelizer @wonderofscience @Physicsj
Iβve been mentally preparing myself for pizza delivery in 30 seconds or less, the cable company arriving for a service call anytime between 12:00.00 and 12:00.04, and returning home from dates two hours before I left.
John Doe
Sean OThis is amazing.
Apicultor π@wonderofscience @Physicsj Not much causes our ultimate insignificance to hit home quite like this.
sd.peters@wonderofscience @Physicsj here for the earth-moon pong animation
Simon Detheridge 
@wonderofscience @Physicsj I'm sorry but the only thing I can think of when looking at this thumbnail is that unless the earth is a black hole, nothing is going to be orbiting it at the speed of light.
Paul Dowden@s @wonderofscience @Physicsj ahem
https://media.tenor.com/DnlIHSdmcSgAAAAC/superman-time-travel.gif
Charles J Gervasi β‘π‘οΈπ₯₯@Tititea @s @wonderofscience @Physicsj
It's just like the 1979 Super Man, when he made the world turn backwards.
It's just like the 1979 Super Man, when he made the world turn backwards.
Jacob Markey@wonderofscience @Physicsj This is particularly instructive! the visual representation makes a difference for me. Profound. I wonder if (hypothetical) significant-to-notice changes in mass/gravity would propagate same rate?
Barney Laurance@Ebeneezer22 @wonderofscience @Physicsj
Yes, gravitational waves travel at the same speed as light. Nothing can carry information faster than light.
odo2063
Leonardo Xavier de Brito@odo2063 @wonderofscience @Physicsj I was about to share this too. There's a button at the bottom right that allows you to travel at light speed.
Accurately seeing the Solar System really makes you realize how amazing is to send a rover from Earth to a specific point on Mars surface.
katrina@wonderofscience @lxbrito @Physicsj @odo2063 Except that you probably donβt even see it accurately on there because if you are anything like me, you speed past the nothingness and slow down for the interesting stuff.
The biggest surprise for me was how far apart Neptune and Pluto are.
The biggest surprise for me was how far apart Neptune and Pluto are.
Rae π§βπ»πΈοΈ@odo2063 @wonderofscience @Physicsj reminds me of Wealth Shown to Scale: https://mkorostoff.github.io/1-pixel-wealth/?v=3
Shannon@wonderofscience @Physicsj That's cool.
KarmaWaters@wonderofscience @Physicsj thats amazing
Matt S
XenGi β
@wonderofscience @Physicsj Light actually isn't that fast. At least on a cosmic scale. It always seems so instant.
Douglas Phillips Books
Tim Ward βπͺπΊπΆ #FBPE@wonderofscience @Physicsj "One foot per nanosecond" works for me.
Paul Porter@wonderofscience @Physicsj love this!
Anne Ominous@wonderofscience @Physicsj pretty funny that most people's takeaway from this is that light is slow...
..when it's actually demonstrating just how vast space is. (because to a person on earth, the speed of light is *still* incredibly fast. it only becomes slow once you put in the context of space's vastness)
c b weisgram@wonderofscience @Physicsj I find this stuff terrifying. I know that's not rational, but the idea that some random cosmic event could have already happened and we wouldn't know about it until we were showered with radiation is so wild.
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lzα΅
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@wonderofscience What can really make your head explode is to think that those photons that take 8 minutes to arrive here, take thousands of years to leave the Sun.
LittleGoatGirl@wonderofscience @Physicsj that is actually so helpful. Thanks you for posting it.
DrJekyll@wonderofscience @Physicsj for everyone who said "slower than I thought", I'd suggest the answer is actually "The distances are much vaster than I appreciated"
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Pam
Veticia Misumena π·οΈπΊ
theschles
Garth Cummings
Admiral Grace Hopper Explains the Nanosecond
LigaPremier2a
John Spounias 
@wonderofscience @Physicsj photons never get old π€£
Pious Ramon π³οΈβπ@Physicsj @wonderofscience Must go faster. Must go faster.
John@wonderofscience @Physicsj this is a good post.
@wonderofscience @Physicsj As an American, I think of of it as 85ps per inch or 5 microseconds per mile.
Nico -telmich- Schottelius@wonderofscience @Physicsj this is one of the nicest visuals I have seen. Great for showing kids.
Andi H@wonderofscience @Physicsj Fantastic... shows the huge challenges of controlling (sending instructions to) space vehicles and remote vehicles on Mars and beyond and also the time to receive feedback
iSchack@wonderofscience Fantastisch!
posiputt
Riding Light - Traversing the Solar System at the speed of light
Ever imagined what it would be like to traverse the Solar System at the speed of light? This is a video which attempts to re-create the out-of-this world exp...
Ged Maheux@wonderofscience @Physicsj Thank goodness for warp drive, right? π
peter kleiweg πͺπΊ@wonderofscience @Physicsj Link to source, please.
Graham IX@wonderofscience @Physicsj Riding Light is a rather wonderful visualisation of a photon of light as it leaves the Sun and travels through the solar system in real-time https://vimeo.com/117815404
