…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
Alot to digest but so worth the try.
It is Sheri.
Or,a s the aliens might say:
‘And just what makes you so special?”
Ah yes. They shared that with you? 🙂
Reblogged this on Wholeheartedness.
Thanks for sharing Todd
Too hard to get my little brain around!
Too Big Too.
I don’t think we’re alone.
And you speak with such confidence!
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)..
You would have think we would have seen some sign of them though, right?! 🙂 (Or perhaps you have?)
It does make me wonder.
Way over my head, way!
[…] These are mind blowing large numbers […]
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.
I had same reaction Sonia. A wake-up call for me.
[…] These are mind blowing large numbers […]