Open Explore to choose any of nine cosmic scales. Scroll or use the bottom slider for continuous zoom; + moves closer and − pulls back. Drag to orbit, or pinch with two fingers to zoom. Worlds opens individual planets. The label button reveals named objects. Cinema hides the interface; press Escape or Exit Cinema to return. ← and → move between scales when you are not using another control.
What am I looking at?
An educational illustration across nine scales. The galaxies, star fields, filaments, and object positions are artistic representations, not a measured sky survey. Earth uses NASA’s Blue Marble surface texture. Named objects and the approximate facts come from NASA. Object sizes and separations are adjusted for visibility. Each scene has its own scale; zoom blends these illustrated scenes continuously; the journey is not a calibrated physical distance scale.
Observable does not mean all.
The observable universe is the region whose signals have had time to reach us. The full universe may be much larger; we do not know its total size. The visible sphere is centered on us because this is our viewpoint. An observer elsewhere has their own observable region. Earth is not a special center of the universe.
13.8 billion years old. About 92 billion light-years across?
Space has expanded while light has been traveling. The present-day distance to the most remote observable regions is therefore much larger than 13.8 billion light-years. The roughly 92-billion-light-year diameter is a present-day distance estimate, not a light-travel time.
What is a light-year?
A unit of distance: how far light travels in one year, about 9.46 trillion kilometers. One astronomical unit (AU) is the average Earth–Sun distance, about 150 million kilometers.
The horizon is not a wall.
The outer sphere represents our observational limit, not a physical shell. The cosmic microwave background is the oldest light we can see directly, released about 380,000 years after the Big Bang. It is not an exact wall at the edge of the full universe.
A soundtrack for each world
Sound is off initially. Choose Sound to enable original cinematic soundscapes, each inspired by a different world. These creative compositions are not spacecraft recordings or scientific sonifications. You can adjust the volume or mute at any time. Audio pauses while this page is hidden.
Go to the source
Made for curiosity. Approximate distances, illustrative geometry, no live astronomical data. Works offline; source links need an internet connection.