The Scale of the Universe

In the second class we focused on the scale and size of the universe. This section provides us with an understandable comparison between how large our Earth and solar system are, compared to the rest of the galaxy and universe. While to us the concept of exactly how large our solar system is is difficult to grasp, it is even harder to comprehend how large our galaxy and universe are. In the chapter, they broke down the size of planets into relatable objects, such as the tip of a ball point pen, or a grapefruit. These objects were then hypothetically placed in Washington D.C., and we learned that the next closest star, on this scale, would be all the way in California.

We also discussed the rotation of the Earth in relation to the orbit of the Earth.  While the rotation is the spinning, the orbit is a revolution around the sun. Although the Earth may not appear to be moving at a noticeable pace, the Earth is moving about 1670 kilometers/hour.  We cannot feel the movement of the Earth because of the gravitational pull the Earth offers to us, so we do not notice the movement.