Bench Press » ultra deep field http://blog.benchside.com The Crossroads of Science and Tech Thu, 26 Jan 2012 15:00:36 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 A Video is Worth Over 13 Billion Light Years http://blog.benchside.com/2009/08/a-video-is-worth-over-13-billion-light-years/ http://blog.benchside.com/2009/08/a-video-is-worth-over-13-billion-light-years/#comments Thu, 20 Aug 2009 14:00:21 +0000 ben http://blog.benchside.com/?p=964 A picture may be worth a thousand words, but a video is worth, depending on the frame rate, a thousand pictures.

We previously posted a breathtaking set of pictures showing just how large the universe really is. But, although the images conveyed a sense of what is now referred to as the Ultra Deep Field but you haven’t seen anything, until you’ve watched a video construction of what the ultra-deep field looks like in 3D (courtesy of Tony Darnell at DeepAstronomy.com):

The key quote from the video:

“We pointed the most powerful telescope ever built by human beings at absolutely nothing for no other reason than because we were curious, and discovered that we occupy a very tiny place in the heavens.”

My thoughts:

  1. Did you not get it just by watching the video? We occupy a very tiny place in the heavens.
  2. Science video is a great way of reaching out to the public and communicating in a way that pure pictures and text cannot.
  3. There’s something to be said about the spirit and essence of the scientific community: willing to explore “nothing” for the sake of exploring it, and still deriving great value from it.

If you like the video, check out Tony’s very informative (and amateur astronomer-friendly) site.

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