Wednesday, June 20, 2007

A Huge Universe: Beachball and Beebee Parable

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An illustration that we have found useful is the "beebee/beachball" comparison: If the earth were the size of a beachball, you could not even see a human being. We are all much too tiny. Now, if you make the earth the size of a beebee, the sun is the size of a beachball. Compared to other suns in our galaxy, the sun is like a beebee and the other stars like the beachball. How small is the earth in this comparison? It is so tiny as to be invisible. Our galaxy contains one hundred thousand million suns. Now, imagine that entire galaxy the size of a beebee, and, compared with some supergalaxies, they are the size of beachballs. Now, when our whole galaxy is the size of a beebee, where is the earth in that scenario. It is literally microscopic.
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