Space is a strange place where the concepts of proximity and distance seem impossible to apply, and if we are given a photograph of the Orion Nebula taken by the Hubble Space Telescope and told that it is 1,500 light years away, the figure leaves us cold. What is the best location for it? Although it appears to be a long way away, if we compare the size of our galaxy to that of a football field, it turns out to be only five feet distant from Earth in terms of distance. So that doesn't appear to be a really long journey, does it?
Astrophysicist Juan Fernández Macarrón, author of the book "The galaxy in a soccer field" (Team Sirius) and colleague at the Complutense University of Madrid's Faculty of Physical Sciences, has invented a simple approach to grasp the astronomical distances of stars in a straightforward manner.
Despite the fact that we believe that we are incapable of envisioning the entire Universe, we feel nervous and lose interest, the expert points out that it is possible to determine how large it is and whether a distance measured in light years is more or less close to us.
Suspended sugar (sugar in suspension)
To begin, Fernández Macarrón proposes a critical examination of the maps that we are already familiar with. I use the map of my neighborhood to locate myself if a restaurant is 200 meters from my house; if it is 200 kilometers away, I choose the map of Spain; if it is 2,000 kilometers away, I choose the map of Europe...» How do we react if they tell us that it is 2,000 light years distant from us? We're at a loss for what to make of it." The astrophysicist recommends four new maps to help solve the problem. One for the hundreds of kilometers, known as the Earth-Moon System, in which the satellites move is one of the most important. It covers millions of kilometers and encompasses the Solar System, whereas the third, which covers light years to thousands of light years and encompasses our galaxy, is only a few thousand light years. We require a fourth map of the Universe, one that includes millions of light years, in order to locate ourselves inside it.
The astronomer uses a lot of visuals to illustrate his idea to the audience. « Consider the fact that our galaxy is the size of a football field. We take a position on the lawn and toss 10,000 kilos of sugar into the air, which remains suspended in mid-air for several minutes. In our galaxy, each granite is a star, and there are more or less 100,000 million granites, which are the stars of our galaxy, in total. It's time for you to take your place. The Sun is represented by a grain of sugar, and our even smaller planet would be revolving around it if I stood in the position of a central defense, around 30 meters from the middle of the field and 20 meters from the goal. If it turns out that the closest star to the Sun, known as Proxima Centauri, is 4.2 light-years away, the distance between the two stars is 4.2 millimeters on a football field. "In this way, we can readily evaluate what light years are since, for example, nine light years represents nine millimeters," he explains. "In this way, we can easily judge what light years are."
The Universe, like the Eiffel Tower, is a symbol of progress.
Taking another example, the globular cluster M13 (number 13 in the Messier catalogue), which is famous because in 1974, we human beings sent a signal from the Arecibo antenna in Puerto Rico, in an attempt to reveal our existence to any possible intelligent life in space, is discovered 25,000 light years away from Earth. In our particular soccer field, it is 25 meters away, and the signal, which will take 25,000 years to reach us, "has only traveled a few centimeters," according to the researchers.
The Sun is represented by a grain of sugar and occupies the position of a central defense on a soccer field; the world revolves around it.
Fernández Macarrón has even come up with the idea of inventing a new unit of measurement. It's referred to as "Foot." The distance between the Earth and the Andromeda galaxy, which is two million light-years away, is equivalent to 25 Fut-meters, or approximately 25 meters, "and the Andromeda galaxy, which is two million light-years away, would be two kilometers from our football field (two Fut-kilometres)". To travel to another galaxy, the expert unfolds a map as large as the Eiffel Tower, which represents the known universe, before continuing on his journey. We have to climb to the middle of the structure and reach out with it in our palms in order to place our galaxy, our soccer field, which is the size of a one-millimeter French lentil (which is smaller than the Spanish lentil)».
He believes that many people have misconceptions about the Universe because they have not been properly explained, according to the astrophysicist. «The universe is expanding, so all popularizers spread their hands apart to demonstrate this. In reality, they deceive the public into believing that they are completing the task quickly, when in fact they are not. It has been estimated that the map of the universe (the sphere that surrounds the Eiffel Tower) has grown by 0.02 millimeters over the last 2,000 years. It's a little sluggish." The scientist hopes to persuade society that we are "the first generation of human beings capable of understanding and imagining the Universe" through his method.
