6 BILLION...

16 Probable Planets Found in Milky Way Galaxy May Have Billions, Scientists SayThe Washington Post:
(via Boing Boing)

"...Based on the number of planets identified and the number of stars in the Milky Way, the scientists estimated that as many as 6 billion Jupiter-size planets exist in [our] galaxy.

'Our discovery . . . gives very strong evidence that planets are as abundant in other parts of the galaxy as they are in our solar neighborhood,' Sahu said..."

fascinating... i love thinking about this stuff... how tiny and insignificant we are...
an interesting article, click and read it
Sean sent me this cool perspective thing on the world 'Billion'. It is written with the intent to illustrate how enormously the rate of our national debt is increasing by the minute, but it still works to really make you realize how huge a number it is... 6 billion big planets in our solar system??... not if any, but how many, and what kind of life is out there?..

The next time you hear someone in the government use the word "billion" think about it.

A billion is a difficult number to comprehend.
One advertising agency did a good job of putting that figure into
perspective:
A billion seconds ago it was 1959.
A billion minutes ago Jesus was alive.
A billion hours ago our ancestors were living in the Stone Age.
A billion days ago no-one walked on two feet on earth.

Quite a bit, huh? Well then this should scare you...A billion dollars lasts 8 hours and 20 minutes at the rate our government is currently spending it