In the Blink of an Eye

Presenting IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE: Space in an Instant

When we look up at night, the universe seems pretty quiet. But that perspective is an illusion; in reality, there are millions of world-shattering events happening every instant across the cosmos. This short film explores just how much is going on every moment in our ridiculously enormous universe.

In the fraction of a second it takes to blink your eyes, thousands of stars will be born, hundreds will explode and die, millions of planets will form, and our universe will expand by half a million kilometers in diameter. And these numbers only account for the observable universe -- not for what could be happening beyond, where some scientists believe there could be an infinite expanse of space.

Think next time you blink.

Visuals, Music, and Sound by John D. Boswell, aka melodysheep. Additional visuals provided by Tim Stupak, ArtGrid, and FilmSupply. Get the soundtrack:

Support my work on Patreon: http://patreon.com/melodysheep

Please note that some of the statistics in this video are wild estimations, and in some cases could be off by orders of magnitude. For a list of sources see below.

Special thanks to: Franck Marchis Avi Loeb Juan Benet Morrison Waud Rowdy Jansen Tim Stupak and my Patreon supporters: Ali Aljuyayd: https://www.instagram.com/iallawy, Andrew Burke: soundcloud.com/enneract, Axel Vei: @AxelVei, Brandon Sanders, Buddy the Otter: https://www.otter.org/Public/, Caleb Levesque, Derick Yan, Eddy Adams: http://www.eddyadams.com, Eric Capuano: http://reconinfosec.com , Eric Malette, Erik Cheatham, Gayathri Baskaran, Gregory Cohen: http://www.designfirebrand.com, John Maier, Kimi Ushida: http://eff.org, Logan, Matthew Brown, Micah Mangione, Phillip Oliveto, Sean Sands, Redspade: redspaderacing.com

And to:

Ada Cerna, Adam O., Adrian Carroll, Aikanar, AJISH BALAKRISHNAN, Ali Akın Kurnaz, Allan Saddi, ALTEORI, Amanda Vivilacqua, Andrew Edwards, Andrew Lucas, Andrew Valenti, Andy Li, Anton Kudelin, Antoni Simelio, Aydan B, Azodiac, Batuhan Firat, Ben Jones, Bhisham Mahtani, Bradley Gallant, Brant Stokes, Calcifer, Carol Dalrymple, Case K., Casey Stratton, Chiharu Kinjo, Chris Wilken, Christian Oehne, Christina Winikoff, Christopher Heald, Chung Tran, Colin Glover, Confused Cabal, Cooper Ferguson, Crystal, Dan Alvesved, Dani Bonilla, Daniil Dziaruhin, Dave LeCompte, David Lyneham, David Southpaw, denise frey, Dexter, Dharamjit, Dhruv Biswas, dixon1829, Draganox Deathwater, Dylan Webb, Ed Thee Goose, Eico Neumann, Eugenio Birikh, Franck Marchis, FreakVenDor, Gaétan Marras, Gary Wei, geekiskhan, Genesplicer, Genji Lim, Ghost1984, Giovanni Varrica, Giulia C., Håkon A. Hjortland, Handy Prints, Hans Husurianto, Henry R. Seymour, Heribert Breidsamer, Hipst3r, Iota Katari, is8ac, Isaac, Isabella Valiukas, IsThisRealLife, Jack E, Jackie Pham, Jake, James O'Connor, Jason Tranter, Jayson Hale, Jean Neyrial, Jessica Turner, Jimperator, JM_Borg, Jordan Johnson, Jordi Malaret, Jose Contreras, Joshua Oram, JousterL, Julian Büttner, Julio Hernández Camero, K Hoang, kane baker, kaynen brown, Kazuki Fujita, Kemelvor Kemaltar, Kristin & Alan Cameron, Krzysztof Lipka, Laine Boswell, Lars Støttrup Nielsen, Laura, Laura Liddington, LemonHead, Lennart Klootwijk, lloll887, Lucky Wolf, Malte Wegmann, Manu Galán García, Maraiu, Markus Oinonen, Marlin Balzer, Martin Majernik, Matt Lygate, Matthew Jacoby, Matthew Ullrich, Mauricio Coen, Maxime Marois, Mehdi Bennani, Michael Li, Michaela Belmont, Michelle Wilcox, Mike Norkus, Mike Wang, Mind Wave, Mitchel Humpherys, Mohammed Aldaabil, moventosh, Nikita Temryazansky, Nina, Nina Barton, onno424, Patrick Keim, Patrick Schouten, Pierre-Étienne Poulin, ProfDrHodensack, Psychachu, Radu Turcan, Randall, Randy Baril, Raz, RedOptics, redruMKO, Reg Reyes, Renato Aliaga, Richard Sundvall, Richard Williams, Rico Oess, Rob Phillips, Robin Kuenkel, Sam Russell, Sandra, Sarah Daniels, Scott Benesii, Sebastian Berg Rasmussen, Serge Fallmann (SilverFolfy), Silas Rech, SpartanLegends, Specter Ai, Stamx, Stefan, Stephanie McAlea, Sterling Lentz, Steven Santos, Stijn de Ligt, SunaScorpion, Surut, SymeSynth, T Y, TacticalNewt, Tapio Kinnunen, Terje Berg, The Cleaner, The Fellowship of Bitcoin, Timothy E Plum, Tom Forsey, Trevor Robertson, Verissimus, Vinh Vo, Virtual_271, Whitney Champion, Will Humphrey, William Ronholm, Wise Doane, Wolfgang Bernecker, Yannic, ZAB, Zenith

Sources:

Average eye blink = ~250ms.

https://bionumbers.hms.harvard.edu/bionumber.aspx?&id=100706&ver=4

2 trillion galaxies in the universe:

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/18/science/two-trillion-galaxies-at-the-very-least.html

7 stars born per year in our galaxy:

https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/news/topstory/2006/milkyway_seven.html

2 supernovas per galaxy per century

https://arxiv.org/pdf/1609.02921.pdf

Thousands of rogue planets form for every star born

https://www.forbes.com/sites/startswithabang/2018/03/13/space-is-full-of-planets-and-most-of-them-dont-even-have-stars/?sh=75ef6f853b2a

*Figure is a very rough estimate, I chose toward the lower end of the number range