Do You Want to Feel Really, Really Tiny?

It’s easy to look around and feel like we’re living in a big world. The planet we walk on seems huge, right? But, what if I told you that Earth isn't as big as it seems? Ready to feel really, really tiny? Let’s take a cosmic trip.

Earth Isn’t All That Big

First, let’s start with Earth. Our home planet is about 12,742 km in diameter. That seems pretty large—until you think about the Sun. The Sun is so enormous that 1.3 million Earths could fit inside of it! And here’s the kicker: the Sun is traveling at a speed of 828,000 km per hour, and guess what? It’s pulling Earth along with it. We’re traveling through space, and we don’t even feel it!

1.3 million Earths fit in the Sun

The Sun’s Journey Through Space

Now, let’s zoom out. The Earth orbits the Sun once every 365 days. It’s like we’re on a never-ending, smooth journey around a massive star. But the Sun itself isn’t just standing still—it’s also moving. Our Sun is orbiting the Milky Way galaxy, and the time it takes to complete one full orbit? A staggering 225 to 250 million years. Yep, that’s how long it takes for our Sun to make a trip around the Milky Way.

We are traveling at nearly 1M km's per hours

The Milky Way—Just One of Many

Speaking of the Milky Way, let’s think even bigger. The Milky Way galaxy is about 52,850 light years in diameter. A light year is roughly 10 trillion kilometers. So, the Milky Way itself is already pretty mind-boggling, right?

But just when you think we’ve hit the ultimate cosmic size, something else comes along to make us feel even smaller.

Quipu: A Cosmic Mega-Structure

In February 2025, a cosmic mega-structure was discovered. It was named Quipu, after the ancient Incan way of storing information, which involved intricate knotting on cords. This massive structure has a radius of 1.3 billion light years. To put that into perspective, it would take you 42 years to count to 1.3 billion. Yep, that’s right—over four decades of non-stop counting.

Quipu is 13 times larger than the Milky Way

To give you a sense of just how big Quipu is, imagine the Milky Way, which is already enormous. Quipu dwarfs the Milky Way by an astronomical margin. We’re not even talking about a small section of space—this thing is massive.

So, What’s Beyond?

Now that we’ve seen just how tiny we really are in the grand scheme of things, it’s natural to wonder: Is there something beyond this life? With such vastness in the cosmos, it raises all kinds of questions about existence, purpose, and what may lie beyond what we can even comprehend.

Find your place

In a universe so overwhelmingly huge, could our consciousness extend beyond the physical? The discovery of something as vast as Quipu challenges the limits of our understanding. If these cosmic structures exist, what else might be out there, waiting to be discovered?

Perhaps feeling tiny is just a way of reminding us how much there still is to explore. And, just maybe, it’s a hint that there’s something beyond this life, something greater than we can grasp with our limited human minds. Whether it's in the form of other life, other realms, or perhaps a deeper connection to the cosmos itself, the possibilities seem endless.

What do you think? Is there more to this universe than we can see?