Comprehending the ultra-large

Lately I've been conducting little brain exercises.

"What, you mean like doing crosswords and stuff?" you might ask.

No, I mean exercises in comprehension of large numbers and space. I have been trying to truly understand how big our galaxy and universe is, and inversely, how small I am and the rest of the world is in comparison.

NASA and the operators of the Hubble space telescope now tell us that our 'universe' contains over 100 billion galaxies, each of them themselves containing billions of stars.

What's more, the distances between the 'ends' of our universe easily breach the 10 billion light year mark - a measure of distance that is truly incomprehensible.

...but still I try.

I sit here at work at times when I have a few minutes in between phone calls or meetings, and I try to really grasp the idea of even one million. That figure - one million - is tossed around so frivolously these days; there are so many millionaires and so many people talking about the 'millions of people' who are affected by things, and the 'millions of small businesses' that are thriving/dying.

But really - do I truly understand the gravity of one million? If I do, does that mean I can just mentally multiply that by 1,000 and instantly comprehend one billion?

I don't think it's that simple.

For me at least, my mind starts to wander after about a thousand. I do believe I understand literally what a thousand means...that it is composed of 100 tens and, as far as images in my mind go, that it's a number I can work with. It's easy.

But put the number at 10,000 or more...and before long it just becomes a number. There no longer is a mental representation of tiny dots, or apples, or flowers, or whatever it is I'm trying to count in my head. The sheer volume of 10,000 becomes way too much for my feeble brain to keep track of.

Trying, however...really trying to keep track of the additions of yet more - and more still - to whatever number I'm 'comfortable' with, is a fun challenge.

The exercise goes on and on, and before long I throw my hands up and just give in to what is essentially infinity. To me, one billion might as well be infinity, for I couldn't count that high even if I dedicated my life to doing so. But still it is humbling, challenging and fun to really try and understand just how grand time and space are.

Think about it - our solar system is roughly 4.6 billion years old. Modern humans have been around on Earth for about 200,000 years. 200,000 into 4.6 billion is 23,000. So we've been 'around' for 1/23,000th of the time that our solar system has been alive.

To further bend the mind - current theory and observations suggest that the universe in sum is between 13.5 and 14 billion years old, roughly 3 times as old as our solar system is.

Do these numbers even MEAN anything to the modern layperson? CAN they mean anything? Or are we destined to be forever ignorant of the true magnitude of volumes?

We are human and inherently limited in our abilities to think. But, pushing the boundaries and trying to really understand huge numbers is time well spent. :)