![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZkeqht7N7Tu6BvcU6O5ueNV501EROme-booerJVxJbmgAEgdwPBptyEamNBnId75KgT6MxtcOuwxxNcOIxHThzMMxFVJk6_p-cKDqqUkehbKpceN8s9cOef9fpnL1Z116wMTm9PiuqgU/s400/Helix_Neb_sm.jpg)
Sorry this is a day late, long weekend for Turkey Day here in Canada.
I am constantly in awe of the Universe. The incomprehensible enormity of it all, as Carl Sagan used to say biiillions and biillions... A billion doesn't really mean anything to me though. 1/7th of the population of Earth, grains of sand on a beach, whatever your comparison, it's just too large a number to grasp. Then to think there are hundreds of billions of galaxies, most of them with hundreds of billions of stars. Numbers that high cease to have meaning that a human brain can properly understand. Here are some pictures I like to look at to help me wrap my brain around the subject.
This is Galaxy Messier - 101, also known as the Pinwheel Galaxy. It has around 100 billion stars, which means it's about average-sized as far as galaxies go (they range from around 10 million to 100 trillion stars).
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgcwDzbI6004hpyFAdsDcEaUayQZSTHYM3ovzpJNJ2ayfcQC6sb6ZgJkHAog3SNsmgNIaf7ITaVm8o1ADBKsdDCzmhC8mIZKs2AQb5bFaBju9-vU1cBvICkGpt9Bs-B3BfBeD8O8w3244/s400/Pinwheel_Small.jpg)
This is the Hubble Deep Field picture. It shows approximately 3,000 galaxies, of an estimated total of 170 billion galaxies in the observable Universe.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIedrh_MTfOwjcVJxuxx3EttasPvShDHCAUTNElsTpPHu0Bv0JQh2h3R9CzT7do0GvIXUwsh21pg7uYAZ4Kgqls7g79hdIaAAoHynJ_6Z0tw_NuScYqQUZR3RlTqAuVJ7Gbj6rKb90A9c/s400/Hubble_Deep_sm.jpg)
What inspires you? I'd love to hear your thoughts, or suggestions for future Monday Inspiration posts.
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