879,873,000,000,000,000,000,000 kms try to remember this number. If you can't, don't worry. Humans are simply not meant to comprehend numbers of this scale. And by the way, this is the approximate size of the observable universe in kilometers.
So what completely blows my mind is the sheer size and scale of the observable universe.
The fastest thing known to humans is the speed of light which is around 300,000 km per second or 1.08 billion kmph. Even if somehow humans could travel at the speed of light, we would reach the Moon in 1.3 seconds, reach the Sun in 8 minutes, reach Pluto in 6.5 hours. Sounds impressive, right?
But it would still take us 93 billion years to cross the observable universe, almost 7 times the entire age of the universe itself, which is 13.8 billion years old. And it gets even more humbling. The universe is not sitting still. It is actively expanding and accelerating. This means that almost 94 percent of the observable universe is already permanently beyond our reach.
And the most amazing part? This is only the observable universe. Nobody knows what lies beyond. The actual size of the universe could be infinitely larger, a number so big that makes our initial number 879,873,000,000,000,000,000,000 km look like a walk in the park.
Yet we humans, a species only 300,000 years old, living on a small rock called Earth are somehow comprehending all of it, and that truly blows my mind even more.