Way back when, there was an excellent film loop called "Powers of 10". Created by Charles and Ray Eames, it can now be found at the conveniently-named powersof10.com website. The video is elegant, starting with a couple having a picnic and then simply pulling back the camera one order of magnitude-- one power of 10-- to reveal the entire country, world, solar system, galaxy, the finally universe.
In the IMax movie "Cosmic Voyage", Morgan Freeman narrates an update of it. It is, to my mind, the single most effective astronomy video ever. I make a point to show it for every classroom I visit, every scout troop I speak to. If you would like to see all of astronomy in six and a half minutes, take a look.
Enjoy!
Alex, The Daytime Astronomer
p.s. yes, the video has an entire second half where they go inward, into cells and DNA and atoms. But that's not astronomy, so you have my permission to skip that part if you wish.
Tues&Fri here, via RSS feed, and twitter @skyday
Read about my own private space venture in The Satellite Diaries
