What do you mean I'm not the center of the universe?!?! But seriously great video! I've seen something like it on you tube just different music. Well done!

One more thing, isn't it true that those larger stars burn out faster?

Yes I think you're right, the bigger they are the faster they go. It is a great, little video; something I've not seen before and I do so love Scientific comparisons like that. I'm glad you found it interesting. :)

And generally, those red giants are stars in the late stages of dying. Stars get redder (cooler) and expand. When our sun starts to burn out it will do the same, consuming (our sciences guess ) half the planets in our solar system as it expands. You know, depending on how far out those red giants are, they might have already completely burnt up. We are just now getting the light from them.

its like a time machine in what we can see of the rest of the universe. Everything we see is "old news".

Not necessarily larger, but more massive, yes.

If you get to be massive enough as a star, the actual volume may actually be less than that of a star with less mass, much for the same reasons that black holes are able to condense all that mass into an area a few kilometers across, except on a much, much less dramatic stale.

I just love this! Thanks so much for the input and explanations.

What always amazed me with those things is that even light bends into them. Plus the event horizon, the ultimate point of no return. It's the stuff sci-fi films are made of!

Well, see, light doesn't actually bend.
Light defines what "straight" is; it's just that space itself is altered in the proximity of such a massive object.
:D

So its a small world after all?

Doh! So it would seem.

I remember a quote from a long time back, went something like:

"The universe is not as queer as we suppose. Its queerer than we can suppose..."

In all the time I've spent chatting with and learning from the astronomers on campus, I've found that they all seem to agree that when pondering the dimensions of anything in space, the quote best suited comes from Keanu Reeves:

"Whoa."

Sweeet! It's great hearing such very learned explanations from those that know science and appreciate it. "Whoa" indeed. :)

That's really cool. I've seen versions of this as simple stills before, it's much cooler as a movie. Notice how small Mars is compared to Earth, too. It's barely bigger than the Moon.

Hey there, Expy! Yeah, I know. It's really bizarre and very humbling to see our place in the galaxy among galaxies. Whew! If the earth is a tiny dot in space then we, as living things upon it, are mere microbes or smaller.

I thought I'd shown it to you, but if you haven't seen it, head over to youtube and type in "pale blue dot".

Neato. :) It's interesting to see the hypergiants in comparison to the sun.

Kinda makes us look....like nothing at all. It's a great video for real comparison.

But yes I am, for as best we can tell, we are the only ones that can understand what is going on out there and before we are the center.

*hugs* Yes, you are the center of the Universe. I will make an exception for you. ;)

Well I'm the center of MY universe!

And what a universe it is indeed.