Research indicates the universe (what can be seen) is more than 40-billion light years in radius.
To put this into perspective, and to prove to some humans how small they really are, understand that the suggested length of a light year is about 9.5-trillion kilometres.
Scientists spend lifetimes attempting to solve many mysteries yet hidden in our universe.
While we wait for them, here are a few amazing facts about the ‘totality of existence’ we are part of:
Perpetual motion
Due to the rotation of the Milky Way galaxy (225km/s) and the speed of this same galaxy through the cosmos (305km/s), we are moving through space at 530km/s, even when we are standing still.
This means any object on Earth is never at rest, ever.
Martian mountains
At about three times the height of Mount Everest and twice the height of Mauna Kea (a dormant volcano on Hawaii), Olympus Mons on Mars stands almost 22 kilometres tall.
So tall, in fact, it protrudes from the atmosphere of the planet.
Looking behind
Stars in the night sky are light years away and their light takes years to reach Earth from space.
Effectively, this means when a person looks out into the night sky, the stars twinkling and gleaming above them are appearing to them as they did in the past.
Space booze
A vast molecular cloud of dust and gas formed near the middle of the Milky Way, Sagittarius B is said to contain 10-billion-billion-billion litres of vinyl alcohol.
Bad news, drinkers, the alcohol isn’t too tasty, but provides insight into the formulation of life’s building blocks.
Across the Universe
The largest known diamond in the galaxy is a crystalline mass dubbed BPM 37093, otherwise known as Lucy after the Beatles’ classic Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.
Lucy is larger than Earth and weighs 10-billion-billion-trillion carats.
