Galaxies, exoplanets, and the question of life beyond Earth

HAVE you ever wondered how vast the universe is? Do our little minds know?

- THYAGARAJ MARKANDAN

Or were you too busy worrying about mundane day-to-day issues to worry about what's happening up in the sky? Or did you think “what is the point about worrying about the universe when it’s beyond human comprehension?”

Of course, if you are one of the millions grovelling in the dirt to make a living, you would not bother to look up at the sky.

There are not just 2 million or 2 billion but 2 trillion galaxies in the observable universe! If we had to write it down in figures, it could stretch all the way from earth to the moon.

Yeah, not stars and planets but galaxies, each with billions and billions of stars.

And if we add the very high probability that each star is hiding several planets circling around it, then you could be forgiven for throwing up your arms in despair and giving up thinking about the cosmos.

The late Carl Sagan put it aptly when he said that there are more stars in the universe than all the grains of sand on all the beaches of the world!