Planet
Earth is orbiting the sun at 67,000 miles per hour -- it is also rotating on
its axis (spinning) at 1,000 miles per hour at the equator.
Our
solar system (the sun and its 9 planets) is traveling through space at 515,000
miles per hour.
Our
sun is a single star within a galaxy of stars, called the Milky Way.
Our
Milky Way galaxy, home of our solar system, is 100,000 light years across -- it
would take about 230,000,000 (230 million) years at the speed of light to
travel all the way around the outside perimeter of the Milky Way galaxy.
There
are about 300,000,000,000 (300 billion) stars within
the Milky Way galaxy alone, a modest-sized galaxy compared to most other
galaxies in the known universe.
Our known universe contains some
100,000,000,000 (100 billion) galaxies, with each galaxy potentially containing
multiple billions of stars.
On a clear night, the average person is
able to view approximately 3,000 stars with the naked eye.
On July 22, 2003, CNN News reported
that astronomers announced there are 70 sextillion stars in the visible
universe.
A sextillion is a 1 followed by 21
zeroes -- that's 70,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 known stars in the universe, more
than all the grains of sand on all the beaches of the entire Earth. This is not
the total number of stars in the universe -- it's the number within the range
of present day telescopes. The true number could be a zillion times higher.
Our single star (the sun) contains 9
planets -- imagine how many potential planets are contained within 70,
000,000,000,000,000,000,000 known stars (other suns).
Keep
that in mind the next time you complain about finding a convenient parking
spot.
Also,
keep that in mind if you assume that Planet Earth is the only spinning orb in
the universe that contains intelligent entities, such as human beings, whose
intelligence is often highly questionable.
___________
Quote for the Day -- “Something deeply hidden had to be behind
things.” Albert Einstein
___________
Bret Burquest is the author of 11 books. He lives in the Ozark
Mountains with a few dogs and where the universe seems like a fairly large
place.
___________
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