Your DNA could stretch to the Sun and back 60 times
If unwound, the DNA in your body would stretch to the Sun and back more than 60 times.
Reviewed by the CurioVault curator · 8 October 2026 · Last updated 27 September 2026 · Editorial standards
If unwound, the DNA in your body would stretch to the Sun and back more than 60 times. Each cell holds about 2 meters of DNA. With 30 trillion cells, that totals about 60 billion kilometers. The Sun is 150 million kilometers away, so that is 200 round trips by some estimates, 60 by conservative counts using 37 trillion cells. It all fits because DNA is 2 nanometers wide, coiled into chromosomes. You carry an astronomical library in a microscopic package, copied almost perfectly every time a cell divides.
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