Technologies

This Scrollable Map of the Universe Reminds Us How Tiny We Really Are

It’s a bit unsettling to scroll through this website scientists made to detail the observable universe. I highly recommend doing it.

When you open up Johns Hopkins University Professor Brice Ménard’s «map of the observable universe,» you’re met with a geometric diagram overflowing with thousands of rainbow freckles, each neatly organized by color. At the bottom of this diagram lies an unnerving phrase.

«You are here.»

One negligible, barely visible dot on this graph represents our entire Milky Way galaxy — a realm with billions of stars besides our own sun, and one we occupy such a small percentage of I don’t even want to attempt writing it out.

With a single pixel, Ménard stunningly puts into perspective the cosmic brevity of everything we’ve ever truly known as human beings.

«This map, representing galaxies just as little dots, allows the viewer to basically understand different scales at the same time,» Ménard said in an overview of the interactive mechanism. «Seeing the vastness of the universe — it’s quite inspiring.»

Scrolling around the 200,000 galaxies in the map — placed in accurate, relative positions to one another — is calming because it reframes how inconsequential the footprint we place in the universe is. It’s disturbing for precisely the same reason.

It draws a distinct parallel with Carl Sagan’s famous quote about Voyager 1’s breathtaking image of Earth from 1990, «Pale Blue Dot.»

«Look again at that dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us,» Sagan said. «On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every ‘superstar,’ every ‘supreme leader,’ every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there — on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.»

Though if you’re blown away by the deceptively concise magnitude of Ménard’s map, consider how it doesn’t even account for every galaxy in the universe. In reality, NASA estimates there are something like a hundred billion galaxies unfolding eternities beyond our own.

We’d need an unfathomable level of observable universe cartography to encapsulate the full breadth of the cosmos.

Slice of our universe

Along with a cadre of scientists, Ménard used data mined over two decades by what’s known as the Sloan Digital Sky Survey.

«Astrophysicists around the world have been analyzing this data for years, leading to thousands of scientific papers and discoveries,» Ménard said. «But nobody took the time to create a map that is beautiful, scientifically accurate, and accessible to people who are not scientists. Our goal here is to show everybody what the universe really looks like.»

Once you click «explore the map» under the Milky Way galaxy label, you arrive at a screen prompting you to «scroll up to travel through the universe.» That such a sentence even exists underscores just how far technology has come.

«From this speck at the bottom,» Ménard said, «we are able to map out galaxies across the entire universe, and that says something about the power of science.»

Even more impressive is how, as you follow the prompt, a ticker at the bottom left of the screen shows you how many billions of years back in time you’ve scrolled. Meanwhile, the dots go from gradients of pale blues to yellows to oranges to reds, ultimately retreating to a cool midnight hue.

«Each dot is a galaxy shown with its apparent color,» the page reads. «Spiral galaxies are faint and blue. Our galaxy, the Milky Way, is a blue spiral.»

Elliptical galaxies are shown as yellowish and brighter, while reddened speckles indicate realms that have grown distant enough for the light they emanate to stretch and appear to us on Earth as crimson blurs.

Further back 9 billion years, the map exhibits vivid blue spots to represent quasars rather than galaxies. These are extreme jets of light spewing out from the guts of black holes sitting at the center of certain galaxies.

Basically, it’s really hard to see galaxies from this era of cosmic history, reddened to the point of near-invisibility, but quasars are bright enough to act like flashlights. Their brilliance shines across the universe, revealing scenes otherwise shielded by darkness and softened with distance.

But beyond even those quasars lies a splotch of blackness — evocative of the mysteries lurking beyond the red end of the electromagnetic spectrum. Infrared waters.

«We encounter an epoch during which the universe is filled with hydrogen gas that prevents the propagation of visible light we could observe today. This epoch is called the «dark ages,'» the page reads.

NASA’s magnificent James Webb Space Telescope is such a big deal because it’s built to find secrets hidden in this region invisible to human eyes. Constructed with an army of high-tech infrared sensors, it’s working on detecting galaxies from near the beginning of time stuck in a limbo we cannot see with our minds or machines.

With each Webb discovery, hopefully maps like this one will become populated where their empty spaces currently sit.

And at the very, very top of the page, a marbled photo of the edge of the observable universe. The first flash of light emitted post-Big Bang, nearly 14 billion years ago. The Cosmic Microwave Background.

«We cannot see anything beyond this point,» the map concludes after you scroll back to the beginning of existence. «The light travel time to us is greater than the age of the universe.»

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections Hints, Answers and Help for Jan. 16, #950

Here are some hints and the answers for the NYT Connections puzzle for Jan. 16 #950.

Looking for the most recent Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.

Today’s NYT Connections puzzle has a very intriguing blue group. You’ll notice some band names, but can you locate what they have in common? Read on for clues and today’s Connections answers.

The Times has a Connections Bot, like the one for Wordle. Go there after you play to receive a numeric score and to have the program analyze your answers. Players who are registered with the Times Games section can now nerd out by following their progress, including the number of puzzles completed, win rate, number of times they nabbed a perfect score and their win streak.

Read more: Hints, Tips and Strategies to Help You Win at NYT Connections Every Time

Hints for today’s Connections groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Worn on heads.

Green group hint: Nighty-night.

Blue group hint: Bands with something alphabet-related in common.

Purple group hint: Like great.

Answers for today’s Connections groups

Yellow group: Kinds of hats.

Green group: Components of a kid’s bedtime routine.

Blue group: Musical acts with «A» as the only vowel.

Purple group: Grand ____.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is kinds of hats. The four answers are derby, fedora, Panama and porkpie.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is components of a kid’s bedtime routine. The four answers are bath, brushing, pajamas and story.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is musical acts with «A» as the only vowel. The four answers are Alabama, Bananarama, Kansas and Santana.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is grand ____. The four answers are Bahama, Canyon, piano and slam.

Don’t miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source.

Quick tips for Connections

#1: Say the clue words out loud, pausing before and after each. That helps you hear the words in the context of a phrase. The Connections editors love to group words together that are used in similar phrasing, like ____ Up.

#2: Don’t go for the obvious grouping. These editors are smart. Once, they offered SPONGE, BOB, SQUARE and PANTS in the same puzzle. None of those words were in the same category. If you like, hit the «shuffle» button to give yourself a different perspective on the words.

#3: Break down any compound words and look for similarities. «Rushmore» was once in a puzzle where the connection was that each word started with the name of a rock band.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for Jan. 16, #480

Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for Jan. 16, No. 480.

Looking for the most recent regular Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Strands puzzles.

Today’s Connections: Sports Edition is a tough one, with some odd words and bizarre categories. If you’re struggling with it but still want to solve it, read on for hints and the answers.

Connections: Sports Edition is published by The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by The Times. It doesn’t appear in the NYT Games app, but it does in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can play it for free online.

Read more: NYT Connections: Sports Edition Puzzle Comes Out of Beta

Hints for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Don’t get hurt!

Green group hint: Exaggerated language.

Blue group hint: Ouch!

Purple group hint: Not northern.

Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Yellow group: Protective gear.

Green group: Hype.

Blue group: Sharp things.

Purple group: «Southern ____» schools.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections: Sports Edition answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is protective gear. The four answers are gloves, helmet, mouth guard and shoulder pads.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is hype. The four answers are anticipation, ballyhoo, buildup and buzz.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is sharp things. The four answers are dart, hairpin turn, ice skate and javelin.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is «Southern ____» schools. The four answers are California, Illinois, Methodist and Miss.

Don’t miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source.

Quick tips for Connections: Sports Edition

#1: Don’t grab for the easiest group. For each word, think about other sports categories it might fit in – is this a word that can be used in football, or to describe scoring options?

#2: Second meanings are important. The puzzle loves to use last names and even college names that mean other things, to fool you into thinking they are words, not names.

#3: And the opposite is also true. Words like HURTS might seem like a regular word, but it’s also the last name of at least one pro athlete.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Friday, Jan. 16

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for Jan. 16.

Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Need some help with today’s Mini Crossword? I thought it was exceptionally tough today, and was convinced 1-Across was «MAD» Max. (Spoiler, it’s not.) I also figured 1-Down was BOOZE, which did not work with 1-Across, and was wrong either way. Read on for all the answers. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.