In the past, both big and small entities have graced The Huge Entity front page. Today we will encounter the largest single object in our galactic neighbourhood - Introducing, The Sun:



Now I got you slavering at the mouth for masses of hot, fiery gas, try and wrap your taste buds around this huge entity:

Astronomers have spotted a huge cloud of fiery gas speeding through a distant cluster of galaxies. They say it is the biggest object of its kind ever seen.

The gas ball contains more matter than a 1,000 billion Suns, and is plunging through the Abell 3266 cluster of galaxies at about 750 kilometres per second. The fireball is about 3 million light years across, roughly 5 billion times the diameter of the Solar System, and reaches temperatures of tens of millions of degrees.

"The size and velocity of this gas ball is truly fantastic," - link & link

Isn't gas brilliant?! I'd love to see a journalist express something that size in whimsical units:

"The gas cloud measures around 3 million light years across. That's about as long as three quadrillion, three hundred seventy-eight trillion, five hundred seventy-one billion, four hundred twenty-eight million, five hundred seventy-one thousand, four hundred twenty-eight and a half double-decker buses!"

(I have to admit that I actually did the math on that figure, so, well... it's as accurate as you're gonna get. Check it yourself if you don't believe me:

Strange units of measurement + Orders of magnitude
+ Online calculator = 3378571428571428.57 buses
That's Huge Entity perfectionism for you!)

Thanks Pruned!
Categories: Science, Space, Images, News, Links, Universe, Amazing, Astronomy, Physics, Nature

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