Snsanalytics. How Music Works. The Scale of the Universe, Five Ways. By Maria Popova What coffee beans, dinosaurs and lakeside picnics have to do with Isaac Asimov and formalized figments. Since yesterday was 10.10.10, we’ve decided to celebrate this cosmic alignment of numerical symmetry by illuminating the measurements of magnitude. Today, we are taking five different looks at one of the most difficult concepts for the human brain to quantify and understand: The size and scale of the universe. What better way to celebrate 10.10.10 than with Charles and Ray Eames’ iconic Powers of Ten film, an adventure in magnitudes circa 1977? The film opens with a lakeside picnic in Chicago and branches outward into the universe, jumping to a vantage point ten times further out every ten seconds until our galaxy becomes a mere speck of light among many, then speed-zooms back to Earth, magnifying the view tenfold every ten seconds.
Universcale is a fascinating interactive infographic by Nikon, exploring the measurement units of the universe, femtometers to light-years.