Earth

Let’s get to know more about where we live!!

This planet is known as Earth, which serves as your dwelling place and is also the location of your neighborhood within the solar system.

The distance between the Earth and the moon may not seem too far, but at their farthest point, they are two hundred and fifty-two thousand eighty-eight miles apart. Within that distance, you could fit every planet in our entire solar system. Speaking of planets, the Great Red Spot on Jupiter is about two times as big as Earth, and Saturn is about nine times wider than Earth. Saturn's rings are so large that some of the fragments within them are as large as mountains. However, this pales in comparison to our Sun. Just remember, this is Earth from the moon, from Mars, just behind Saturn's rings, and just beyond Neptune, four billion miles away. A billion is a large number, so let's put that in perspective: one million seconds equals about eleven and a half days, while 1 billion seconds equals over 31 years. Let's take a step back and consider the size of Earth compared to our Sun - it's truly terrifying. And here's that same Sun from the surface of Mars, as Carl Sagan once pondered.

The universe contains more stars than all the grains of sand found on Earth's beaches combined. Additionally, there are stars that surpass our Sun in size by a significant margin.

Did you know that VY Canis Majoris is approximately 2,000 times larger than our Sun? However, when it comes to size, none of those measurements can even come close to the vastness of a galaxy. In fact, if you were to shrink the scale, the size difference would be mind-boggling!

If we were to shrink the size of our solar system down to the size of a quarter, and then scale down the Milky Way galaxy using the same ratio, the diameter of the Milky Way would be approximately equivalent to the size of the United States.

The Milky Way galaxy is absolutely massive - with a diameter of about 100,000 light-years, which translates to around 621 quadrillion, 371 trillion, 192 billion, 237 million, three hundred thirty-three thousand, eight hundred ninety miles. And guess what? You live in just a tiny portion of it! But don't be fooled, our galaxy is just a small fry when compared to others. NGC 674, a spiral galaxy like our own, is twice as wide as the Milky Way, spanning over two hundred thousand light-years. Let's not stop there. In a single picture captured by the Hubble telescope, there are numerous galaxies, each containing millions or billions of stars along with their planets. Some of these galaxies may have originated as far back as 11 billion years ago, only three billion years post-Big Bang. This time frame is known for being a hub of star formation. It's truly mind-boggling to think about how vast the universe is, with Earth being our tiny little home in the grand scheme of things. So, whenever you're feeling down about trivial things like your favorite TV show being canceled or Christmas music playing too early, just remember where you belong - this beautiful planet called Earth.