How small are we

[axle01]

Got this as an email and shocked to see how small we are.

[axle01]

another look at us

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEheh1BH34Q

[OzStarGazer]

"We have examined the universe in space and seen that we live on a mote of dust circling a humdrum star in the remotest corner of an obscure galaxy. And if we are a speck in the immensity of space, we also occupy an instant in the expanse of ages."
Carl Sagan ("Cosmos")

[Renato1]

The pictures are very interesting, but they mislead in one respect. Yes, our sun is small compared to the other huge stars pictured.

But the sun is in the top 20% of stars by size. The vast majority of stars in the universe are the small red ones which we can't see by naked eye.
Regards,
Renato

[N1]

What really puzzles me is that Betelgeuse looks more like an orange than a beetle. :P

[doppler]

And if you compressed the earths atoms so they touched each other the earth would dissapear:eyepop:

[Paddy]

This doesn't detract from the main point here, but I think Betelgeuse is bigger than Antares. Even though it's further away, it is the only star that Hubble can image as a disc rather than as a point source.