Trying even to fathom how huge the Universe is can really get you dizzy and frightened. Astronomers cannot have some precise measurements even using the most sophisticated tools. The Universe is so huge that even light itself, which travels at the highest speed possible, wasn’t fast enough during the 13.7 billion years since the Big Bang to arrive at us from the most distant regions of the Cosmos. Only God knows how distant those regions are.
If we want to find out how many atoms are there in the Universe, we have to forget about the idea of knowing, at least using the current technology, how big the entire Universe is. Humanity can only study the observable Universe, which is why it’s called like that in the first place. Even in this second scenario, we can only approximate how many atoms there are in the observable Universe. The good news is that we have an answer, and we can add some faith in it.
There are 10^82 atoms in the observable Universe
According to a new article from LiveScience.com, there are about 10^82 atoms in the observable Universe. If, by any chance, you’re eager to count the zeroes, that number means 100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.
Atoms exist in every visible object from the Universe, and even some that are non-visible. We’re ruling out dark matter and dark energy, as scientists still have no idea what those things are made of. But as for galaxies, stars, planets, every living being, and every chemical element, they’re all made of atoms. Each of us is living proof that the Universe contains atoms, some more than others.
Some scientists even believe that the entire Universe can be a million times bigger than the observable part. A lot of scientists even theorize that our Universe is only one in multiple other universes, which together form the Multiverse. Whatever the truth is, what’s for sure is that humanity has a lot more to uncover about the reality we live in.
