In the children’s story, “Horton Hear’s a Who!,” by Dr. Suess, The book tells the story of Horton the Elephant who, in the afternoon of May 15 while splashing in a pool located in the Jungle of Nool, hears a small speck of dust talking to him. Horton discovers that the speck of dust is actually a tiny planet, home to a microscopic community called Whoville, where the Whos reside. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horton_Hears_a_Who!)
The reason this came to mind and why I am writing about it, is because our guest today, Christine Day, on LIFEChanges With Filippo, will be talking about the Pleiades. The Pleiades, or Seven Sisters (Messier object 45 or M45), is an open star cluster containing middle-aged hot B-type stars located in the constellation of Taurus. It is among the nearest star clusters to Earth and is the cluster most obvious to the naked eye in the night sky. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pleiades)
And the thought of what I was going to be talking about with her, brought to mind an E-mail I had seen come across my computer a couple times, with pictures of the Earth in comparision to the other planets, as I got from a website and posted below. At some point, when looking at the other planets and stars Earth not only becomes dwarfed, but turns into the size of a speck of dust as in the Horton story, until it completely disappears. We are on that planet that disappeared.
So, we know the story of Horton being an Elephant on this planet who others think is crazy because he is communicating with supposed beings in a speck of dust. And now we know that there are microscopic organisms an that story does have some relevance. But have we ever thought of ourselves as potentially “microscopic” organisms in comparison to other beings or worlds?
In other words, if our guest can really communicate with the Pleiades, is it possible that to them, we would be like the Who’s in Whoville and she like the Mayor who is talking to them on our behalf? Crazy, huh?
Comparative planetary and stellar sizes
How big are we here on Earth when compared to other planets, the sun, and some of the other stars?
With thanks to http://www.co-intelligence.org/newsletter/comparisons.html for helping me illustrate my musings.