Hubble Telescope and Space

Our Cosmic Address

​Our cosmic address describes where Earth is located in the universe.

You could think of it like a mailing address,
where you start with the smallest, most specific location - your house - and zoom out to your street, your city, your state, even your country!

Our Cosmic Address:

​Nearly 8,000 miles, 13,000 km wide. Water covers 71%.

​300,000 billion kilometers, 1.87 light years wide.

​100,000 light years wide, made up of stars, gas, dark matter.

​(that's a black hole in the middle)

​The local group consists of Andromeda,
the Milky Way, and Triangulum,
along with around 50 small dwarf galaxies.

​10,000,000 light years across.

Local Group Size:

• A galactic cluster 10,000,000 light years wide
  

• The Local Group consists of about 54 galaxies, including the Milky Way and Andromeda.
  

• It is a part of the Virgo Supercluster, which spans over 110 million light years.

Galactic Collisions

Galaxies in the Local Group, including the Milky Way and Andromeda, will collide
in about 5 billion years.

However, due to the great size of galaxies, the planets and solar systems are unlikely to collide. The galaxies will merge into a massive supergalaxy.

​Contains at least 100 galaxy clusters, including our Local Group. 110 million Light years wide.

​Contains over 100,000 galaxies and spans over 500 million light years.

Our Cosmic Address:

​This represents the outer limits of everything that scientists have been able to observe with a variety of different types of telescopes.


It is 93 billion light years wide.

Every structure we have ever observed - the galaxies, the superclusters, everything - fits inside of here.

Summary: Our Cosmic Address

• Earth: Nearly 8,000 miles, 13,000 km wide. Water covers 71% of the surface.
  

• Solar System: Includes 8 planets, dwarf planets, comets, asteroids, and moons. 1.87 light years.
  

• Milky Way Galaxy: 100,000 light years wide, made up of stars, gas clouds, and dark matter.
  

• Local Group: 10,000,000 light years across, includes the Milky Way and Andromeda
  

• Virgo Supercluster: Contains at least 100 galaxy clusters, including our Local Group. 110 million LY
  

• Laniakea Supercluster: Contains over 100,000 galaxies and spans over 500 million light years.
  

• The Observable Universe: All of the universe that scienctists have observed with telescopes.

Named after astronomer Edwin Hubble, the space telescope is the first of its kind, launched April 24, 1990.

Hubble Telescope

10,000 Galaxies

Back in 1995, over the course of about 10 days, Hubble Space Telescope discovered 10,000 galaxies in a tiny patch of space the size of a pen-tip.

This mind-boggling number showcases the vastness of our universe. The Hubble space telescope has allowed us to explore the depths of space like never before.

The discovery of these galaxies has expanded our understanding of the cosmos and continues to inspire astronomers worldwide.

​The Hubble Space Telescope, orbiting Earth.

Named after James E. Webb, the administrator of NASA from 1961 to 1968 during the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs.

James Webb Deep Space Telescope

​Launched December 25, 2021, it is not in orbit around Earth, like the Hubble Telescope. Instead, it actually orbits the Sun, about 1.5 million kilometers away from us.

100 Billion Galaxies

There are millions to trillions of stars in each galaxy.


Some scientists estimate there could be as many as 100 billion galaxies in the universe, and probably way more.

If there's 100 billion galaxies, each with with millions of stars,
how many stars could there be in the universe?