Meanwhile, there are ~70 thousand million, million, million stars in the observable universe - a figure vastly surpassing all of those grains of sand. The universe is immense, breathtaking & beyond imagination ✨
Something I learned recently, talking of unfathomably large numbers. A Rubiks cube has 43,252,003,274,489,856,000 possible combinations. Only one of which = solved. https://thecube.guru/rubiks-cube-combinations/
Rubik's Cube is one of the most popular puzzles in the world because of its apparent simplicity, but also because of the great complexity it hides. It is
Purely coincidentally, I was considering this question last night & your number for stars is probably too high.
The current best estimate for the total number of galaxies in the observable universe is 2 x 10^12. But most are much smaller than our Milky Way & have only 100 million stars on average.
That makes 2 x 10^20 stars vs 7.5 x 10^18 grains of sand on Earth.
So yes, more stars than grains of sand, but “only” by a factor of ~25 or so.
If I’m right, the 2012 NPR piece uses estimates from 2003, so the data have improved since then, mostly through the Hubble Deep Fields & Gaia.
Very spooky though to know that I was pondering this last night & exchanged emails with Chris Conselice, one of the people who have thought about this deeply 😱
Universe has abundance for everyone ,every time and everything but harnessing the abundance limited due to mindset .Do evangelists of multi planetary civilisation make first step towards that direction before we transition towards multiverse harnessing.Who know what’s in store with evolution of human intelligence.technological progress and once we build AGI & quantum computing capability .Exciting times and just a matter of time for machine to pass Turing test 😊
Brilliant data and wonderful image. I mentioned something similar to this as my wife and I poured 27 Kilo bags of sand into a sink-hole near our water meter.
The Universe is one amazing place and the particles making it and every one of us aren't sub-microscopic bits of "stuff" but persistent disturbances in bizarre 3D quantum fields....
Its a never-ending source of wonder, fascination and deep interest for me...and as for the JWST..what a breathtaking piece of engineering origami!
And just to add to that there are unimaginable atoms in each one of those stars but the number of possible chess games overwhelmingly exceeds the number of atoms in the universe.
@MeanwhileinCanada Quintillions and quadrillions sure sound like a lot more. Perhaps you should’ve used the same measurements in the comparison but at least you told us which one is bigger. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Amazing! I have a question about the “2 light-years” scale bar: is this for the nearest stars, most distant, or somewhere in between? I don’t understand how the scale bar makes sense when the dots we’re looking at are not in a flat plane. Thanks!
I understand the scales here, but I think its slightly disingenuous to choose different word measures like you did.
"If we calculate how many grains are in a teaspoon of sand (an average) & multiply that by the amount of sand estimated on every beach & desert in the world, we get (roughly) **seven and a half million million million** grains of sand on Earth.
Meanwhile, there are ~70 thousand million, million, million stars in the observable universe"
Now it's easily noticeable there are about 10,000 times more stars than grains of sand.
We can't even imagine all the weird and/or wonderful things it contains. We may never overcome the technical challenges of visiting the rest of it. But we can all stare up at it and be overwhelmed by its power, beauty and mystery.
BoneHouseWasps 🔶
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •Rubik's Cube combinations
Diego de Pereda (Rubik)BigD
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •Barbara Pittman ☕️💬
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •The Lady Parabellum
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •"70,000 million million million" simplifies to 70 x 10^21
7.5 quintillion is 7.5 x 10^18
So... 10,000 times, +/-
70,000 quintillion vs 7.5 quintillion
It's almost 0300hrs, why am I deobfuscating stuff like this in my head?
Oh, yeah, it annoys me.
Stegasaurus
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •Mark McCaughrean
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •The current best estimate for the total number of galaxies in the observable universe is 2 x 10^12. But most are much smaller than our Milky Way & have only 100 million stars on average.
That makes 2 x 10^20 stars vs 7.5 x 10^18 grains of sand on Earth.
So yes, more stars than grains of sand, but “only” by a factor of ~25 or so.
(All with big error bars, of course 🙂)
Sheril Kirshenbaum
in reply to Mark McCaughrean • • •Even the lower estimate is still astounding.
Mark McCaughrean
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •If I’m right, the 2012 NPR piece uses estimates from 2003, so the data have improved since then, mostly through the Hubble Deep Fields & Gaia.
Very spooky though to know that I was pondering this last night & exchanged emails with Chris Conselice, one of the people who have thought about this deeply 😱
James 🦉 #FBPE :europe:
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •Daniel Pavey
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •Sanjay Thakur
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •Preston MacDougall
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •There are many more atoms in a handful of sand than there are stars ✨ in the (currently) observable universe!
“Chemical Eye 👁️ on Counting our Blessings” 👉 http://www.sitnews.us/MacDougall/112805_macdougall.html
#chemistry #chemiverse #WilliamBlake #AmadeoAvogadro
SitNews - Chemical Eye on Counting our Blessings by Preston MacDougall
www.sitnews.usDiamond Joy
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •James 🦉 #FBPE :europe:
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •Phil Allsopp
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •The Universe is one amazing place and the particles making it and every one of us aren't sub-microscopic bits of "stuff" but persistent disturbances in bizarre 3D quantum fields....
Its a never-ending source of wonder, fascination and deep interest for me...and as for the JWST..what a breathtaking piece of engineering origami!
Ishan
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •It’s worse, much worse…
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •10tothe22
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •Sandra Hoenle (she/her)
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •TK_UK
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •Steve Moore :toad:
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •Steve Moore :toad:
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •Charles Eubanks
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •AT-AT Assault 🏳️⚧️
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •"If we calculate how many grains are in a teaspoon of sand (an average) & multiply that by the amount of sand estimated on every beach & desert in the world, we get (roughly) **seven and a half million million million** grains of sand on Earth.
Meanwhile, there are ~70 thousand million, million, million stars in the observable universe"
Now it's easily noticeable there are about 10,000 times more stars than grains of sand.
minhtrung
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •Sparkymike
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •Laurie S
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •davetuikong
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •