This, most likely, is not news to anyone, but I find it fun to think about now and again, particularly if I'm in a philosphical mood which leads me to start pondering the meaning of it all.
The earth on which we live is 8,000 miles in diameter. Putting this in its place, our solar system alone and the only part of the universe we even have a vague idea about, is almost 8 billion miles across its span. It's pretty hard for me to comprehend what 8 billion of anything looks like and yet this pales into insignificance if we consider that our galaxy, the Milky Way, contains more than 200 billion stars and potentially solar systems. Travelling at the speed of light it would take 100,000 years to get from one side of the galaxy to the other.
The known universe encompasses only a proportion of what is theorised to have been produced by "the big bang" and yet we are aware of the existence of over 100 billion galaxies. I say the "known" universe as many people hold with the theory that our universe was just one of billions of similar other big bangs, leading to the existence of billions of universes.
In a previous blog I was troubled by the idea of the universe being either finite or infinite as I find either option impossible to accept, but when I start considering the enormity of the universe in the way I have here then I get dizzy long before I can entertain any comprehension of its possible boundary.
It boils down to this: We live, on average, around 80 years, confined to a planet which is 8,000 miles across. I don't know what ever made me assume that I could even attempt to understand any of the secrets of the cosmos even if I did have only 1% of the brain power of the likes of Stephen Hawking.
I have decided that it's time for me to either stop thinking or turn to religion.
I realise this blog serves no purpose. Apologies.
