Explore our favorite visualization of the immense scale of space, from an astronaut to the size of the observable universe

A scale of the universe, from atoms to cosmos

Can you really appreciate just how small protons are, or how massive the universe is? To attempt to grasp it, watch this short video which zooms out from a young woman in California to the very limits of the cosmos using established scales. Then, dive deep into the atoms of her white blood cells for a fully-rounded effect.

An animation illustrating the enormity of the universe

Look around you. Where are you? Where is this place you are occupying? Somewhere in a room, maybe in a city on a continent on a planet orbiting a star in a galaxy among billions. But… where is all of that?

Zooming out from Earth to the edge of space

For perspective on the universe's absolute massiveness, watch this four-minute video. Beginning at a facility in Germany, the "camera" pulls back revealing the surrounding countryside, Germany itself, Europe, the Earth, and so on. At one point stars form galaxies and galaxies, at a distance, become as seemingly "small" as the individual stars.

The entire observable universe in one map

Scientists believe we’ve only discovered about 5% of the universe. Here’s a map of what we’ve found so far, visualized using a log scale.

See to the edge of the universe with this two-decade astronomy project

A New Mexico telescope has captured astronomical data for two decades to compile this map of the universe. Starting from earth and ending at the "edge" of the universe, it shows one slice of the cosmos: a total of 200,000 galaxies.

A data visualization exploring six decades of spacewalks

Astronauts' initial small step for mankind may standout, but how many steps have we taken so far? Space and moonwalks further our understanding of spaceflight, celestial bodies, and space itself. Created to resemble a constellation map, this chart...

Play an interactive game to explore and learn about Hubble images

Aboard the fictional USS Hubble, users can choose their own adventure to investigate the solar system, our galaxy, and the universe beyond. Each option directs users to a real image accompanied by relevant information and additional media elements, such as a time-lapse of the moon Phobos orbiting Mars.

Fly through the deepest image of space ever taken by the Hubble Space Telescope

Taken over 11 days between 2003 and 2004, when the space telescope was aimed at a seemingly empty patch of the sky, the Hubble Ultra-Deep Field revealed about 10,000 sources of light, most of which are entire galaxies. This visualization expands the 2D image into a 3D view spanning 12 billion years.

Explore how far you've traveled through space while living on Earth

Using the "Cosmic Odometer," users can enter their birthday and learn how far they have moved through space due to the combined effects of Earth's rotation around its axis, the planet's orbit around the sun, the solar system's trajectory through the Milky Way, and the galaxy's motion through the universe.

After NASA's Voyager 1 captured Earth as a single pixel as it left the solar system in 1990, astronomer Carl Sagan used the image to reflect on humanity's fragility and the responsibility to protect 'the only world we've ever known.'

Experimenting with space-time

Einstein's theory of general relativity—that mass literally bends space and time—can be difficult for the human brain to imagine. This interactive resource lets you create celestial objects, imagine their effect on space-time, and see how they interact with each other (best viewed on desktop).

Zoom around our solar system

This interactive model of our local neighborhood in the Orion arm of the Milky Way galaxy lets you sail and zoom around our Solar System. Learn about various different objects (include planets and manmade planet-exploring probes) and their proximity to Earth and other heavenly objects.

New ways of seeing the cosmos have redrawn the map of human identity

From Galileo’s crude spyglass to the James Webb Space Telescope, each technological leap has expanded our observational reach and redefined philosophical and moral conceptions of our place in the universe. Identifying signs of life through the study of exoplanet atmospheres would represent the next great revolution.

Our favorite visualization of the depths of the ocean and the various animals species within it

A map of the Milky Way

Curious about the layout of the cosmos? This resource presents a detailed map of our galaxy, the Milky Way. Learn the basic structure and identify prominent global clusters, nebulae, main arms, spurs, and constellations. With numerous different maps and mediums, get oriented with the universe’s configuration and where exactly we fit into it.

Visualize a model of all of time, where our lives span less than the width of a human hair

The massive model was built across a Mojave Desert lake bed using 800 lights spaced just 10 meters apart. Within the model, the entirety of human civilization appears only in the final centimeter.

Zoom from Earth to Maisie's galaxy

Discovered by the Webb Telescope in 2022, Maise’s Galaxy (named after the nine-year-old daughter of the scientist who discovered it) was found as part of a survey of a section of the universe known as the Extended Growth Strip, home to thousands of galaxies. This video takes you from Earth to Maise’s galaxy, formed roughly 300 million years after the birth of the universe.

Explore an interactive map of the unified theories of everything

This interactive concisely describes many highly complex theories ranging from quantum gravity and black holes to dark matter and energy. Supplementary resources, key questions, and possible solutions accompany each description. As of 2026, no developed theory provides an accepted explanation of all observed phenomena in the universe at all scales.

Astronomers use a set of scaffolding methods to measure distances across the universe

Different methods are used depending on how far away an object is—from radar for nearby planets, to parallax for stars, to redshift and supernovae for distant galaxies. These tools allow scientists to chart the universe across unimaginable scales using astronomical units (AU), light-years, and parsecs.

Most of the observable universe's volume consists of voids and supervoids—enormous regions of space with little to no galaxies, stars, or light.

Watch a tour of a 3D visualization of the Pillars of Creation

Combining observational data from the Hubble and James Webb Space Telescopes has allowed NASA scientists to create a multiwavelength model of the star-forming region at the heart of the Eagle nebula.

The universe expands by stretching space itself, not into anything beyond it

Thanks to Einstein’s relativity and Hubble’s observations, scientists understand that space stretches, like rising bread dough between raisins, with no "outside" to expand into. Some theories suggest our universe might be just one "bubble" in a vast multiverse, possibly floating on a higher-dimensional surface called a brane.

Explore the animals that populate the depths of the ocean, from fish and coral in the first few hundred feet, all the way down to the bottom of the Mariana Trench.

'On the return trip home, gazing through 240,000 miles of space toward the stars and the planet from which I had come, I suddenly experienced the universe as intelligent, loving, harmonious..'

-Apollo 14 astronaut Edgar Mitchell, in "The Way of the Explorer"

Visualize the size of countries on the sun and other planets

Pluto is roughly the size of Australia. What about Namibia and Nepal? How small would North America appear on the sun? Compare the relative size of continents and countries with this easy-to-use interactive.

Watch visualization of different-sized asteroid impacts

The animations range from a 4-meter-wide asteroid that would burn up in the atmosphere with the impact of 0.6 Hiroshima nuclear bombs to a 940-kilometer asteroid the size of the dwarf planet Ceres, which would produce a mass extinction event.

The most mysterious (known) star in the universe

Something massive, with roughly 1,000 times the area of Earth, is blocking the light coming from a distant star known as KIC 8462852. One of astronomers' more intriguing theories: Alien technology. Discovered via NASA's Kepler space telescope and a...

Take a virtual tour of the International Space Station

The ISS is the largest human-made object in space. Its modules were meticulously connected by robotic arms and astronauts during slow, careful spacewalks, creating a structure with over eight miles of electrical wire.

The first image of a black hole was captured by creating an Earth-sized virtual observatory from a network of eight radio telescopes.

Explore the known asteroids, comets, and spacecraft involved in asteroid studies within our solar system with 'Eyes on Asteroids,' a 3D visualization from NASA.

Track the location of the Voyager probes, currently between 13 and 15 billion miles away from Earth.

See how each of the more than two million known species relates to each other—and to common ancestors—in this zoomable tree of life.

According to the physics of black holes, our 4D reality may be a hologram—a projection of information coded on a 2D surface on the edge of the universe.

Visualize the path of every solar eclipse from 1900 to 2099 and see what each looks like when observed from different locations on Earth.

Explore an interactive map built from more than 100,000 survey responses on where people find joy in their lives

See the 25 of the best photos of auroras from around the world.

Before humans, the Soviet Union and the United States sent animals—including apes, dogs, and cats—to space during the Space Race.

Take a 3D tour of the Hajj, Islam's annual pilgrimage to Mecca, undertaken by more than 1.5 million Muslims each year.

Explore chaos in this simulation of two double pendulums, where small differences in the release angles produce wildly different outcomes.

See the most iconic photos from four decades of LIFE magazine

Apeirophobia is an overwhelming fear of living forever, perhaps stemming from the brain's inability to conceptualize an infinite life.

See a 3D reconstruction of Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital that was home to an estimated population of 200,000 to 400,000.

Explore a list of the 100 best novels of all time, compiled by some of the world's best living writers, including Salman Rushdie, Stephen King, and Jennifer Egan.

Watch this video that uses Lego bricks to explain how venture capital works.

One disco producer saw 'Star Wars' four times on its opening weekend and was so inspired that he recorded the album 'Star Wars and Other Intergalactic Funk,' which produced a chart-topping single.

Watch how algorithms can be designed to train themselves and self-improve without human input, to the point where the optimized code is too complex for programmers to understand.

The syncytiotrophoblast is the outer layer of the placenta and the largest human cell, spanning an area about twice that of a king-sized bedsheet.

'Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone,' a work by American painter Thomas Moran, inspired Congress to establish Yellowstone National Park.

In 2009, the nation was gripped by the story of a missing young boy who was believed to be floating over Colorado in a homemade balloon, until it was revealed that he was at home the whole time.

The power and influence of the American presidency have expanded significantly over time—far beyond what the founders envisioned.