These are mind blowing large numbers


…Just how many planets are there?…There could be about 23 billion stars in our Milky Way galaxy, each harbouring Earth-sized planets with life-friendly temperatures on their surfaces. Twenty-three billion, give or take a few…Some studies produce numbers of Earth-sized planets closer to 17 billion…Others suggest a figure as low as 6 billion or so, but these are just the planets close to Earth in size. If we extend our reach to slightly larger worlds, the places now known as ‘super-Earths’, we’re back into the tens of billions. No matter how you slice the cosmic cake, you end up with a vast wedge of planets that we’d be happy to go and study, perhaps even land on and cautiously tiptoe about. These are mind-blowingly huge numbers…

So, given the enormity of the number of planets in the galaxy, the question Caleb Scharf tries to answer in his essay is: Are We Alone?

Image Source: theorangeco.  Quote Source: Aeon Magazine


  1. Alot to digest but so worth the try.


  2. Or,a s the aliens might say:
    ‘And just what makes you so special?”


  3. Reblogged this on Wholeheartedness.


  4. Too hard to get my little brain around!


  5. I don’t think we’re alone.


  6. Sometimes my own little life feels too big to put my arms around – let along considering the possibilities of others swinging through the universe with us (though I think they must be out there)..


  7. It does make me wonder.


  8. 17 billion? 23 billion? number of planets in the Galaxy o.O are we in a dream then? I take it as a wake up call.



  1. […] These are mind blowing large numbers […]


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