The Megastructure Compendium
Science & Futurism
In the future humanity may build enormous structures, feats of mega-engineering that may rival planets or even be of greater scope. This episode catalogs roughly 100 major types of Megastructure, from those that are cities in space to those that rival galaxies.
TIMELAPSE OF THE FUTURE: A Journey to the End of Time
We start in 2019 and travel exponentially through time, witnessing the future of Earth, the death of the sun, the end of all stars, proton decay, zombie galaxies, possible future civilizations, exploding black holes, the effects of dark energy, alternate universes, the final fate of the cosmos.
Peter Eötvös
Multiversum
Multiversum is written for two solo instruments and orchestra, for two instruments of the same family: the traditional organ with its rich but static colours and the modern Hammond, which can continuously change colours. It was very important for me that the sound of the two organs could completely wrap around the audience, like we imagine the cosmos envelops us. The traditional organ sounds from the front, the Hammond from the back. If we visualise the two organs as our galaxy, then the different groups of the orchestra can represent different galaxies. That’s how the “Universe” becomes the “Multiversum”.
DARK DISTORTIONS
‘Dark Distortions’ – was inspired by Euclid, a forthcoming ESA mission to study the mysterious nature of dark matter and dark energy, which is due to launch in mid-2022. Dark matter is thought to account for 85% of the matter in the universe. Visible stuff within galaxies – such as stars and planets and dust – has insufficient gravitational pull to prevent galaxies from disintegrating as they rotate. But galaxies don’t fly apart in this way, so astrophysicists proposed that they must contain “dark” matter that has sufficient mass to keep galaxies intact – but which has never been seen directly.
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ТЕМНЫЕ ИСКАЖЕНИЯ
«Dark Distortions» – был вдохновлен Евклидом, предстоящей миссией ЕКА по изучению загадочной природы темной материи и темной энергии, запуск которой запланирован на середину 2022 года. Считается, что темная материя составляет 85% материи во Вселенной. Видимое вещество внутри галактик – например, звезды, планеты и пыль – обладает недостаточным гравитационным притяжением, чтобы предотвратить распад галактик при их вращении. Но галактики не разлетаются таким образом, поэтому астрофизики предположили, что они должны содержать «темную» материю, обладающую достаточной массой, чтобы сохранить галактики в целости, но которую никогда не видели напрямую.
As above
As Above is a short film exploring the tight link between the microscopic world and immensity of the universe. Illustrating our universe’s never ending dance of destruction and creation, in which life can emerge. As Above was made of one single shot filmed on the 8mm2 (0.3 square inch) surface of a chemical reaction. The environment in which we live, is at the constant mercy of the ever changing flow of planets, stars and galaxies… As well as the composition of the microscopic world. “As Above” is an invitation to contemplate the beauty of this perpetual movement of which we are part of… And perhaps invite the viewer to reflect on his position in the universe and the preciosity of life.
베가 왕
维加王
ВЕГА ВАН
ALPHA LYREA
Beijing-based fashion designer Vega Zaishi Wang’s new Alpha Lyrae collection is very special. Silk dresses of her design were printed with galaxies, constellations, and nebulas, then backed with lightweight and flexible electroluminescent paper, making the garments glow. The name of the collection is quite clever: not only does it reference the space theme of the design, but Alpha Lyrae is the name of the brightest star in the constellation of Vega, which is also the designer’s first name.
Unfold
Inspired by the latest discoveries in the field of astrophysics, unfold, an immersive and sensory installation seeks to translate into sounds, images, and vibrations, the phenomena surrounding the formation and evolution of stars and galaxies.
Everything
FILE GAMES 2017
Everything is an interactive experience where everything you see is a thing you can be, from animals to planets to galaxies and beyond. Travel between outer and inner space, and explore a vast, interconnected universe of things without enforced goals, scores, or tasks to complete. Everything is a procedural, AI-driven simulation of the systems of nature, seen from the points of view of everything in the Universe.
Globe of Science and Innovation
History of the universe
Did you know that the matter in your body is billions of years old?
According to most astrophysicists, all the matter found in the universe today — including the matter in people, plants, animals, the earth, stars, and galaxies — was created at the very first moment of time, thought to be about 13 billion years ago.
The universe began, scientists believe, with every speck of its energy jammed into a very tiny point. This extremely dense point exploded with unimaginable force, creating matter and propelling it outward to make the billions of galaxies of our vast universe. Astrophysicists dubbed this titanic explosion the Big Bang.
The Big Bang was like no explosion you might witness on earth today. For instance, a hydrogen bomb explosion, whose center registers approximately 100 million degrees Celsius, moves through the air at about 300 meters per second. In contrast, cosmologists believe the Big Bang flung energy in all directions at the speed of light (300,000,000 meters per second, a million times faster than the H-bomb) and estimate that the temperature of the entire universe was 1000 trillion degrees Celsius at just a tiny fraction of a second after the explosion. Even the cores of the hottest stars in today’s universe are much cooler than that.
There’s another important quality of the Big Bang that makes it unique. While an explosion of a man-made bomb expands through air, the Big Bang did not expand through anything. That’s because there was no space to expand through at the beginning of time. Rather, physicists believe the Big Bang created and stretched space itself, expanding the universe.