I visualize them by simply looking at an image and knowing it's 35000 ly across. Maybe it's just exposure to such units over time. I also have no problem grokking distances on atomic scales. What's hard is thinking of 35000 ly in terms that make no sense, like kilometers or how far you drive to work. But 35000 is an easy number to grasp.Comprehending light-years, maybe I could, but visualising them seems impossible! (or did you imply that too with the term "comprehend"?)There is no reason that we cannot learn to fully comprehend such distances. I think the failure comes from trying to convert the units to others that make no sense in context.
I realise that this is meant for information, but even with my PhD in pure mathematics I simply cannot comprehend '75,000 light years'.
To me, the feeling of not being able to "wrap my head around" cosmic distances and other cosmic quantities or events is one of the great joys of astronomy!
Statistics: Posted by Chris Peterson — Fri Apr 04, 2025 3:00 pm — Replies 6 — Views 185