our galaxy to the average is like a half-crown to a honey-bee

An example of an everyday comparison to help understand the scale of the universe,

"If in your mind's eye you take the average galaxy to be about the size of a beea small bee, a honey-bee, not a bumble-bee – our galaxy would be roughly represented in shape and size by the half-crown, and the average spacing of the galaxies would be about two yards, and the range of telescopic vision about a mile."

Fred Hoyle (1960) The Nature of the Universe (Revised ed.)

Read about quotidian comparisons

The half-crown was a British coin worth £0.125 in pre-decimal currency (a crown was five shillings, when there were twenty shillings in a pound), very roughly the size of a 10p piece. (A yard is approximately a metre in length, and a mile is a little more than 1600 m.) Remember to use a honey-bee, not a bumble-bee, in this comparison.

Author: Keith

Former school and college science teacher, teacher educator, research supervisor, and research methods lecturer. Emeritus Professor of Science Education at the University of Cambridge.