Hi Everybody:

I just read something really amazing. The largest known galaxy in the Universe is galaxy IC 1101. Galaxy IC 1101 is 5.5 million light years across and contains over 100 trillion stars with the mass of nearly a quadrillion suns.

As a comparison our Milky Way is a mere 100,000 light years across and contains 400 billion stars.

(Credit Ethan Siegel, Forbes)

I can’t get my head around those numbers. If you were to count to 100 trillion at a rate of one number every half second, it would take over a million and a half years to complete it. Absolutely amazing!

PS: If you’re interested in this type of science, Ethan Siegel writes a regular column for Forbes. I highly recommend it.

All the best,

PG.