How Big is the Universe? Billions of Stars in Trillions of Galaxies.
How big is the Universe? As it quickly turns out one needs more than just imagination to understand the scale of things involved. Since we rarely use values larger than those of our bank account balance, we need some assistance in understanding how many stars, galaxies and light years there are out there.
In the observable universe there is about 100 billion galaxies (100 000 000 000) each consisting of billions of stars. The Andromeda galaxy is about 2.5 million light years away (2,500,000 = number of years you will need to get there traveling at 330,000 km/sec – ca. 190,000 miles/sec – speed of light). Each of us moves at a speed of 66,000 miles/hour even when sitting at a table, sipping beer, because this is the speed at which Earth travels around the Sun. Trying to comprehend such numbers is not an easy task, as we don’t need or use them on a daily basis. Is it even possible then for us to grasp the gigantic scale of the universe?
“Our sun is one of a 100 billion stars in our galaxy. Our galaxy is one of billions of galaxies populating the universe. It would be the height of presumption to think that we are the only living thing in that enormous immensity.”
– Werner von Braun
This fantastic documentary will help you understand these numbers better and bring them into a comprehensible perspective. Once you are there it may be worthwhile to ask yourself this: how likely is it that given the vastness of space we are the only intelligent life form that exists?
How big is the Universe:
10 Awesome Ancient Wonders That Remain A Mystery - The Abandoned World: 
