[identity profile] makyo.livejournal.com 2011-06-14 07:59 am (UTC)(link)
The mathematician and comedian Matt Parker has some further analysis here, where he calculates the awesomeness of this event at approximately 2.2 kilo-Alderaans of awesome.

[identity profile] andythms.livejournal.com 2011-06-14 12:56 pm (UTC)(link)
If you enjoyed Matt Parker then you might like to know he's 1/3 of the Festival of the Spoken Nerd, who will be in Edinburgh for 2 nights in August (with a different show each night). It's a thoroughly enjoyable evening of science and comedy - details are at http://fotsn.com/.

[identity profile] spacelem.livejournal.com 2011-06-14 08:08 am (UTC)(link)
Yes, really big.

really, really big

[identity profile] stillcarl.livejournal.com 2011-06-14 08:50 am (UTC)(link)
Frightened now...

[identity profile] pigwotflies.livejournal.com 2011-06-14 09:34 am (UTC)(link)
Woah! I thought it was going to stop with the sun, but it kept going and going and going...

We're really really really tiny!

[identity profile] makyo.livejournal.com 2011-06-14 10:12 am (UTC)(link)
There's a really nice recording of Carl Sagan reading this passage here, with Brian Eno's Ascent in the background.

[identity profile] nancylebov.livejournal.com 2011-06-14 12:33 pm (UTC)(link)
Aside from the scale (I didn't realize there were stars that huge), I also didn't know there were magenta stars.

[identity profile] nancylebov.livejournal.com 2011-06-14 07:33 pm (UTC)(link)
I was surprised by V838 Monocerotis, which may or may not actually be magenta, but is definitely weird.

[identity profile] strawberryfrog.livejournal.com 2011-06-14 09:20 am (UTC)(link)
A gigantic nuclear furnace.
fearmeforiampink: (academic terms)

[personal profile] fearmeforiampink 2011-06-14 11:06 am (UTC)(link)
And big, and not a place where we could live.