5 ms·

First-ever photo proof of powerful jet emerging from colliding galaxies

111 points by dnetesn 7y ago

martin_a 7y ago
Whenever I see pictures like these, I like to take a step back and think about how HUGE the universe is, and how tiny and insignificant we all are, although we think different. And then imagine an electron would have a kind of conciousness and would look up to us human entities probably in the same way, because the electron itself is just stuck in that one chip, that one p-layer in the transistor in my notebook. It's all about perspective...
- m4rtink 7y ago
  Nothing can change perspective more than a miss programmed self replicating Von Neumann swarm. ;-)
- Erlich_Bachman 7y ago
  You say it's about perspective.. And yet you at the same time write something like "how tiny and insignificant we all are, although we think different", then assuming it is not in fact all about perspective, but instead implying that one perspective is somehow more true than the other. I think that when talking about significance - the perspective is in fact very important, if not the most important factor. My life is very significant to me, yes. An electron in a transistor is not, and a distant galaxy is not either. This is not a delusion of grandeur or a misguided complex, it is simply a consequence of my perspective. If would be foolish for me to think that a galaxy is more significant than my life is, because I only have this perspective, I will not ever be able to truly shift my perspective (other than in a daydream) into being a galaxy. I am not a galaxy or an electron, I am a human. And yes I am significant. Saying that my life is not significant would be an attempt by me to remove responsibility for my actual life and escape something I don't like in my life and hide behind some philosophical intellectualizations.
  - martin_a 7y ago
    You're very right, I did not describe that thought very well and it's hard to grasp or formulate when English is not your first language. Depending on whose perspective you take, you might become more signifcant or not. The universe will probably never miss me, I will most probably not have any impact on it in the big picture at all. But yeah, I'm very significant to others and it's important to acknowledge that, although you might feel lost or insignificant when compared to a universe. (Not sure if I got it this time, but it reads more positive at least.)
    - egfx 7y ago
      Maybe instead of perspective you meant to say scale. I’ve had this pet theory on all this called the theory of the big and small. That is all the rules of the universe are repeated at scale. Think about this virus. Maybe just like we have antibodies the earth has antibodies to get rid of pollution. Its not a new theory but I first thought of this when I saved a bee floating in a pool with a stick. To me it was a simple gesture and to the bee it was divine intervention. Maybe perspective is limited by the mind.
      - uryga 7y ago
        > Maybe just like we have antibodies the earth has antibodies to get rid of pollution i'm curious, why would it? is (or was) there something to encourage the Earth to develop "antibodies", like evolutionary pressure for living organisms?
        egfx 7y ago
        Yes in an interesting way, I can see how bats with very sensitive echolocation can be reading cues from the earth, exchanging stress signals and becoming stronger viral reservoirs.
        uryga 7y ago
        sorry but idg how are bats relevant to the kind of planet-scale immunity you mentioned
- coldcode 7y ago
  It's also about how many galaxies (and other critters) exist in the universe, that you can scan enough to find two colliding galaxies at just the right time to view the jet.
- psalminen 7y ago
  "A Universe of Atoms, An Atom In The Universe" - Richard Feynman
- microcolonel 7y ago
  > how tiny and insignificant we all are, although we think different. I figure the significance of humans is that we are sophisticated enough to recognize that we exist, not that we are physically large or emit many photons.
- aezakmi 7y ago
  reddit tier comment right here.
ctdonath 7y ago
We’ve had high res astrophotography long enough that I expect we should be producing time-lapse video of lightyear-scale events.
steve76 7y ago
I know relativistic effects will: keep the speed of light the same even at 0.9c increase lengths increase mass slow down clocks I try to ask why. My best attempt starts wtih things really are not one object, but one object and a smudge. That smudge is thermal transfer. Try to go too fast, and other things start seeing that smudge as an object itself. That one object pushes against everything to be two distinct objects. Not in a holistic broadcasting way. One way, just impossible to determine without creating a smudge yourself.

111 points by dnetesn 7y ago

Whenever I see pictures like these, I like to take a step back and think about how HUGE the universe is, and how tiny and insignificant we all are, although we think different. And then imagine an electron would have a kind of conciousness and would look up to us human entities probably in the same way, because the electron itself is just stuck in that one chip, that one p-layer in the transistor in my notebook. It's all about perspective...

m4rtink 7y ago
Nothing can change perspective more than a miss programmed self replicating Von Neumann swarm. ;-)
Erlich_Bachman 7y ago
You say it's about perspective.. And yet you at the same time write something like "how tiny and insignificant we all are, although we think different", then assuming it is not in fact all about perspective, but instead implying that one perspective is somehow more true than the other. I think that when talking about significance - the perspective is in fact very important, if not the most important factor. My life is very significant to me, yes. An electron in a transistor is not, and a distant galaxy is not either. This is not a delusion of grandeur or a misguided complex, it is simply a consequence of my perspective. If would be foolish for me to think that a galaxy is more significant than my life is, because I only have this perspective, I will not ever be able to truly shift my perspective (other than in a daydream) into being a galaxy. I am not a galaxy or an electron, I am a human. And yes I am significant. Saying that my life is not significant would be an attempt by me to remove responsibility for my actual life and escape something I don't like in my life and hide behind some philosophical intellectualizations.
- martin_a 7y ago
  You're very right, I did not describe that thought very well and it's hard to grasp or formulate when English is not your first language. Depending on whose perspective you take, you might become more signifcant or not. The universe will probably never miss me, I will most probably not have any impact on it in the big picture at all. But yeah, I'm very significant to others and it's important to acknowledge that, although you might feel lost or insignificant when compared to a universe. (Not sure if I got it this time, but it reads more positive at least.)
  - egfx 7y ago
    Maybe instead of perspective you meant to say scale. I’ve had this pet theory on all this called the theory of the big and small. That is all the rules of the universe are repeated at scale. Think about this virus. Maybe just like we have antibodies the earth has antibodies to get rid of pollution. Its not a new theory but I first thought of this when I saved a bee floating in a pool with a stick. To me it was a simple gesture and to the bee it was divine intervention. Maybe perspective is limited by the mind.
    - uryga 7y ago
      > Maybe just like we have antibodies the earth has antibodies to get rid of pollution i'm curious, why would it? is (or was) there something to encourage the Earth to develop "antibodies", like evolutionary pressure for living organisms?
      - egfx 7y ago
        Yes in an interesting way, I can see how bats with very sensitive echolocation can be reading cues from the earth, exchanging stress signals and becoming stronger viral reservoirs.
        uryga 7y ago
        sorry but idg how are bats relevant to the kind of planet-scale immunity you mentioned
coldcode 7y ago
It's also about how many galaxies (and other critters) exist in the universe, that you can scan enough to find two colliding galaxies at just the right time to view the jet.
psalminen 7y ago
"A Universe of Atoms, An Atom In The Universe" - Richard Feynman
microcolonel 7y ago
> how tiny and insignificant we all are, although we think different. I figure the significance of humans is that we are sophisticated enough to recognize that we exist, not that we are physically large or emit many photons.
aezakmi 7y ago
reddit tier comment right here.

ctdonath 7y ago

We’ve had high res astrophotography long enough that I expect we should be producing time-lapse video of lightyear-scale events.

steve76 7y ago

I know relativistic effects will: keep the speed of light the same even at 0.9c increase lengths increase mass slow down clocks I try to ask why. My best attempt starts wtih things really are not one object, but one object and a smudge. That smudge is thermal transfer. Try to go too fast, and other things start seeing that smudge as an object itself. That one object pushes against everything to be two distinct objects. Not in a holistic broadcasting way. One way, just impossible to determine without creating a smudge yourself.