I work out of our office on One Market Street in San Francisco. My standup-desk is right across from our Gallery at One Market. One of our newer exhibits is called Powers of Design. It was first featured at the Technology Entertainment & Design (TED) conference last year. Powers of Design depicts the size of everything from the inconceivably small to the mind-blowingly large. I thought I'd cover the exhibit elements, one at a time, over a few months. I started small and am working my way up.
Andromeda, the largest galaxy in the Local Group of Galaxies.
1023 MAGNITUDE
100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 m
10 Million Light-years
Local Group of Galaxies
10 Million Light-years
When we call this group of galaxies “local,” we don’t mean run down to the corner for a coffee and a donut local. It all depends on your perspective, and our perspective is rather large at the moment. The Local Group is the group of galaxies that includes our own, the Milky Way, and more than 54 others.
The galaxies of the Local Group cover a 10 million light-year diameter, the two most massive of which are the Milky Way and the Andromeda galaxies, containing 400 billion and 1 trillion stars, respectively, with each having its own system of local satellite galaxies.
I recall my days at Buzzsaw.com. Back in 1999 I used to see Frank Chu walking around town. Frank would conduct his own one-person protest march and carry around a sign requesting that "12 galaxies unite" to impeach an array of former US Presidents. I guess Frank should have been thinking bigger: "55 galaxies unite."
Thanks to Global Content Manager, Matt Tierney, for the images and text that comprise the exhibit element. This is just one of the many exhibits in the gallery at One Market in San Francisco. The gallery is open to the public on Wednesdays from 12 pm to 5 pm, and admission is free. Visit us.
Previous posts on this topic include:
- 10-15 Protons and Neutrons
- 10-14 Atomic Nucleus of a Uranium Atom
- 10-13 Nada, Zilch, Zero, Zip
- 10-12 Gamma Rays
- 10-11 Fluorine Ion
- 10-10 Wavelength of Hard X-Rays
- 10-9 Carbon Nanotubes
- 10-8 Molecular Transport Nano Robot
- 10-7 HIV Virus
- 10-6 Red Blood Cells
- 10-5 Sand
- 10-4 Microelectromechanical Systems
- 10-3 Sonata Silicium Watch Components
- 10-2 Lego
- 10-1 Prosthetic Fairing
- 100 Biome Concept Car
- 101 Ma'erkang Housing Reconstruction
- 102 Shanghai Tower
- 103 Bay Bridge
- 104 Masdar City
- 105 Palm Islands
- 106 The Moon
- 107 Earth
- 108 Jupiter
- 109 The Sun
- 1010 Distance Light Travels in 34 Seconds
- 1011 Distance from Jupiter to the Sun
- 1012 Distance from Pluto to the Sun
- 1013 Voyager 2
- 1014 The Solar System
- 1015 Cat's Eye Nebula
- 1016 Pillars of Creation
- 1017 Great Orion Nebula
- 1018 M15 Globular Cluster
- 1019 Sagittarius Dwarf Galaxy
- 1020 Triangulum Galaxy
- 1021 The Milky Way
- 1022 IC 1101
Future blog posts will cover:
- 1024 The Local Supercluster
- 1025 3C 273
- 1026 Outer Limit of the Universe
Measurement is alive in the lab.