The Scale of the Universe

Last updated

The Scale of the Universe
HTwins - Scale of the Universe TITLE SCREEN.png
Title screen of the first edition
Developer(s) Cary Huang, Michael Huang
Composer(s) Kevin MacLeod, Cliff Martinez
Engine Adobe Flash
Platform(s) Web-based
Release2010
Genre(s) Edutainment

The Scale of the Universe is an interactive online visualization tool and website first created in 2010 by twins Cary and Michael Huang, based in Moraga, California. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] Released on Newgrounds and the Huang brothers' web page, it features a scrollbar that players can use to navigate through orders of magnitude and view various objects within such size ranges. Sliding the scrollbar to the left and right causes the screen to zoom in and out, respectively, utilizing resolution independence in the process. [1]

Contents

Michael Huang, one of the co-creators in 2025 Michael Huang.jpg
Michael Huang, one of the co-creators in 2025

In 2012, Cary and Michael Huang released a sequel titled The Scale of the Universe 2, in which clicking on objects brings up infoboxes that display information about them. [6] [7] [8] The current version of The Scale of the Universe 2 uses Pixi.js instead of Flash, ported by Matthew Martori. [6]

The Scale of the Universe was featured on NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day on October 7, 2018. [9]

In 2020, animation studio Kurzgesagt released the app Universe in a Nutshell, which took inspiration from The Scale of the Universe. [10] [11]

The main-belt asteroid 10003 Caryhuang was officially named by the International Astronomical Union on June 16, 2021, partly in recognition of Cary Huang's involvement in The Scale of the Universe. [2]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "'The Scale of the Universe,' by Two Teenage Brothers". ABC News . Archived from the original on February 14, 2012. Retrieved August 25, 2023.
  2. 1 2 "WGSBN Bulletin 1, #3" (PDF). WGSBN Bulletin. 1 (3). International Astronomical Union: 7. June 16, 2021. Retrieved September 18, 2024.
  3. ↑ Murphy, Dan (March 1, 2012). "Something beautiful". The Christian Science Monitor . ISSN   0882-7729. Archived from the original on February 16, 2022. Retrieved December 25, 2023.
  4. ↑ Donahoo, Daniel (March 1, 2012). "The Scale of the Universe: An Interactive Infographic". Wired . ISSN   1059-1028. Archived from the original on April 2, 2016. Retrieved December 25, 2023.
  5. ↑ Brush, Mark (July 20, 2012). "Friday diversion: Two 14 year olds show us the scale of the universe". Michigan Public . Archived from the original on May 30, 2024. Retrieved December 25, 2023.
  6. 1 2 The Scale of the Universe 2. htwins.net
  7. ↑ Hill, David J. (April 15, 2012). ""The Scale Of The Universe 2" Animation Made By 14-Year-Olds Is Mind Blowing". Singularity Hub . Retrieved August 25, 2023.
  8. ↑ Rao, Mallika (July 20, 2012). "'The Scale Of The Universe 2': Cary And Michael Huang Let You Scroll Through The Universe (PHOTOS)". Huffington Post . Retrieved January 30, 2022.
  9. ↑ "APOD: 2018 October 7 - The Scale of the Universe Interactive". NASA . October 7, 2018. Retrieved August 25, 2023.
  10. ↑ @carykh (October 4, 2020). Hey Kurzgesagt! Hello from Scale of the Universe's Creator. YouTube . Retrieved August 15, 2023.
  11. ↑ VanderBorght, Mieke. "Universe in a Nutshell App Review". Common Sense Media . Retrieved August 25, 2023.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.