# Scale visualization imagery

Downloaded and optimized on 2026-09-05. These are scientific images, not AI-generated artwork. Both retain their original framing and black space background. Only resizing and WebP compression were applied.

## Earth — `earth.webp`

- NASA's NPP Blue Marble, a composite of VIIRS observations collected on January 4, 2012.
- Credit: NASA/NOAA/GSFC/Suomi NPP/VIIRS/Norman Kuring.
- Source and image description: https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/30002/
- Original download: https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a030000/a030000/a030002/npp-cropped_print.jpg
- Delivered size: 1024 × 991, 234,114 bytes.
- WebP quality: 85. Original NASA crop retained; no color changes.

## Sun — `sun-full.webp`

- Full disk view of a C3-class solar flare on September 8, 2010, recorded by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory in the 304 Å band.
- Credit: NASA/SDO/AIA.
- NASA asset: https://images.nasa.gov/details/GSFC_20171208_Archive_e001978
- Original download: https://images-assets.nasa.gov/image/GSFC_20171208_Archive_e001978/GSFC_20171208_Archive_e001978~small.jpg
- Updated September 12, 2026 to retain the complete Sun and surrounding corona.
- Delivered size: 600 × 600, 61342 bytes. Resizing and WebP compression only (quality 88).
- The display hides the bottom 5% containing the embedded observation timestamp; the Sun and corona remain within the visible area.
- False-color solar imagery, not the Sun’s appearance to the unaided eye.

## Usage

NASA generally permits factual, educational and informational use of its imagery with attribution and without implying endorsement. These assets do not include NASA logos or identifiable people.

- NASA media usage guidelines: https://www.nasa.gov/nasa-brand-center/images-and-media/
- SDO data rights and required credit: https://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/data/rules.php

## Analogy and assumptions

Adapted from Scott Czepiel’s “52 Factorial”: https://czep.net/weblog/52cards.html

The visualization uses a one-metre step every billion years, a 40,075,017-metre equator, 1.4152 × 10²⁵ drops in the Pacific, and sheets 0.1 mm thick stacked over 149,597,870.691 km. It continues this same paper cycle until the timer ends; the original essay changes to a different analogy after 1,000 stacks. Distances, paper spacing, and object sizes are illustrative.