The most astounding fact about the Universe

Ethan Siegel asks us to consider at 3tags.org, what is the most astounding thing about the universe.

there is one fact that stands out as the most astounding. The entire Universe,

on all scales,
in all places,
and at all times,
obeys the same fundamental laws of nature. This is the most remarkable thing of all. Imagine what things would be like if this weren’t true. Imagine an existence where nature behaves randomly and unpredictably, where gravity turns on-and-off on a whim, where the Sun could simply stop burning its fuel for no apparent reason, where the atoms that form you could spontaneously cease to hold together.
Image credit: NASA, ESA, the ACS Science Team and N. Benitez et al.


The core of the Tarantula Nebula, as revealed for the first time by Hubble back in 2009. Image credit: NASA, ESA, and F. Paresce (INAF-IASF, Bologna, Italy), R. O’Connell (University of Virginia, Charlottesville), and the Wide Field Camera 3 Science Oversight Committee.

When you put it all together, it means the most astounding fact about the Universe is this: that it exists in such a way that it can be understood at all.

Read more here.
h/t American Digest