How big is the known universe? A great Interactive Resource

It's official the universe is freaking massive!!!  But explaining and understanding just how big it is to students can be just as large of a dilemma and could possibly cause headaches for all involved.  Luckily some creative individual out here has created a really cool interactive site that allows you to use a slider through hundreds of relative objects that give you a genuine understanding of just how big space is. 

It both looks amazing and is highly informative at the same time and would be an ideal interactive white board resource.

It has some real links to both maths and science you can enxplore with your students or you can simply look at it and go wow!

Access it here.

Put real world objects into perspective with BBC Dimensions

How big really is an excellent resource for geography and math teachers who want to put objects from around the world into perspective that students will understand.  For instance how big was the recent Gulf oil spill in comparison to the Great Barrier Reef?

The BBC Dimensions site aims to bring home the human scale of events and places in history. The D-Day landing beaches measured from London to Norfolk in the UK. How far would the Titanic stretch down your street?

Dimensions simply juxtaposes the size of historical events with your home and neighbourhood, overlaying important places, events and things on a satellite view of where you live. Certain "Dimensions" can be transformed into short walks, so you can get a physical appreciation of the distances involved.

Below is an image of the Oil Spill over part of Great Britain.  Access Dimensions here