Yeah…so I’ve been reading The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy trilogy, and that got me wondering what, exactly, a galaxy is and how the universe is organized.

I think school failed to make me understand this. Our Sun is but one star of approximately 200,000,000,000 in our galaxy, and the closest star to us in the Milky Way is 4.2 light years (24,668,436,332,000 miles) away. There are an estimated 50 billion planets in this galaxy alone. There are more than 170 billion galaxies in the observable universe, each with anywhere from 10 million to 100 trillion stars, each with several potential planets of their own.

My head has been collapsing in on itself for a week. I want to scream Calvin’s sentiment here, but I can’t, knowing all of this. I also wonder why I was never taught these things in school, and if it had anything to do with the “separation” of church and state.

(image via ianbrooks) (via bluelunchbox)

this is how i’ve felt ever since i started learning about space and it ruins my life on a regular basis whenever i allow myself to think about it too much

(Source: ianbrooks, via hurrikanes)