Have you ever seen a galaxy?
Last year I was able to go to someone's house for a stargazing night. The family there owned a large telescope and lived out in the middle of nowhere, so there was little to no light pollution, and the sky was clear. We got to see many amazing things, among which was the closest spiral galaxy to the Milky Way: Andromeda. I had never seen a galaxy before, so it was truly amazing.
Andromeda (also known as M31 or NGC224) can be seen in the constellation Andromeda, and is visible to the naked eye on moonless nights even with moderate light pollution. However, only the center of it is visible with the naked eye; a telescope is required to view the arms as well.* It contains approximately 1 TRILLION stars, whereas our galaxy contains 200-400 billion. Andromeda is over 220,000 light-years in diameter** (one light-year is equal to about 10 trillion kilometers, or 6 trillion miles). It's practically impossible to fully comprehend the magnitude of this amazing galaxy, and yet it is merely one small speck in a vast universe.
"When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?"
