Australian astronomers

The football season gets underway this weekend, and I can hardly wait.

So if you’re lucky enough to be lazing on a sweltering shoreline this summer, take a moment to dig out a handful of soft, powdery sand and let the thousands of grains trickle through your fingers.

Now think – that’s just one handful of sand, from just one beach, at just one holiday hotspot. You can’t begin to imagine how
much sand there is … but there are more stars than even that! 70 sextillion stars, to be precise: that’s a seven with 22 zeroes after it.

Can you believe there are scientists who still think this is the only place in the universe where intelligent life exists? Come on, all you sceptics – what planet are you guys on?