Transcript 00-132 - StarsAreBig A few introductory words of explanation about this transcript: This transcript includes the words sent to the narrator for inclusion in the latest version of the associated video. Occasionally, the narrator changes a few words on the fly in order to improve the flow. It is written in a manner that suggests to the narrator where emphasis and pauses might go, so it is not intended to be grammatically correct. The Scene numbers are left in this transcript although they are not necessarily observable by watching the video. There will also be occasional passages in blue that are NOT in the video but that might be useful corollary information. There may be occasional figures that suggest what might be on the screen at that time. 105 Intro Want to see something really big? Well watch this. Our starting point is our own moon. We have seen men walk on the moon. It is pretty big. But even the smallest planets are bigger. Here are Mercury, Mars, Venus and Earth. The relative sizes with mercury set to one are : 1 : 1.34 : 2.41 : 2.54 : And the gas giants in our solar system are huge in comparison. Here are Neptune, Uranus, Saturn, and Jupiter. … : 9.88 : 10.2 : 24 : 28.4 : …and of course our sun makes even Jupiter seem small… … : 277 But let’s look at some really big stars. Here is Sirius …and Pollux …and Arcturus …and Aldebaran …and Rigel …and Deneb …and Antares …and Betelgeuse … and the largest star we currently know about is VY Canis Majoris. Now these relative sizes use our own sun set to one : Sirius 1.75 Pollux 8 Arcturus 25 Aldebaran 43 Rigel 70 Deneb 220 Antares 510 Betelgeuse 1000 VY Canis Majoris 2100 On this scale, our sun would be one-tenth the size of the tiny little dot you see to the left. .