The earth is really very small...

Have you ever sat and thought about how big the earth really is? Maybe not, but it's a worthwhile activity sometimes. When you hear about all the bad stuff humans are doing to the earth it's easy to convince yourself that the earth is too big for us insignificant humans to really affect things. Admit it, you don't really believe we could produce enough carbon dioxide to change the climate of the entire world. And how could that little can of hairspray possibly destroy the ozone layer? When I'm having trouble agreeing with all the evidence that says we are indeed changing the world environment... and not in a good way... I find it helpful to look up at the sky at night to put things in perspective.

As planets go, the earth is really small! Sure we're way bigger than Pluto, but that's not even a planet any more.

When you add Jupiter to the picture the earth begins to look very small.... but at least we can claim to be the biggest planet that's not just a big ball of gas.

The sun contains 98% of the mass of the entire solar system! Next to the sun, Jupiter is insignificant. The earth?... barely noticeable now.

Astronomers apparently aren't all that creative. They call stars like the sun "dwarfs" and stars like Arcturus "giants."

Apparently in awe of what they were finding astronomers were unable to muster a creative word in naming these types of stars. Rigel is a "blue giant," Aldebaran is a "red giant." Betelgeuse (pronounced: beetle juice) and Antares are "red super-giants."

Astronomers lack of creative naming aside, where is the earth in the last picture? The sun, 1 million times larger than the earth, is a single pixel.

So next time you start thinking the earth is too big for us humans to mess it up, look up at the sky and realize that we are all stuck here on an insignificant speck that is the only insignificant speck we have. "But we'll just find another planet to go to when we ruin earth," you say. Don't count on it. These pictures don't take into account the even more ridiculous distances between all these planets and stars.

My advice: The earth is really very small.... Don't mess it up!

Noggin Fodder

www.nogfod.com

Feed your head.