"Space … is big. Really big "Space … is big. Really big. You just won't believe how vastly hugely mind bogglingly big it is. I mean you may think it's a long way down the road to [Smith’s], but that's just peanuts to space." -The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

Our look at the Universe will begin on Earth. Source: bestanimations.com

The Moon is the nearest world to Earth. Source: bestanimations.com

It is about 250,000 miles from Earth. Source: NASA

The Sun is the nearest star to Earth. It is 93,000,000 miles from Earth.

The Sun is 370 times farther from Earth than Moon. Golly, Gee Whiz Fact. The Sun is 370 times farther from Earth than Moon. Source: Dan Heller Photography

The fastest something can move is the speed of light. Light travels 186,000 miles per second. Source: recoverybridge.org

Distances in terms of the speed of light. Moon - 1.5 light seconds. Sun- Eight light minutes. Solar System Diameter – Twelve light hours (eight billion miles).

When we leave the Solar System, we need a new unit of measurement.

The new unit is called a “Light Year.” A light year is the distance light travels in one year. One light year = six trillion miles.

Source: Goddard Spaceflight Center Leaving the Solar System, our next stop will be at the Alpha Centauri system. Source: Goddard Spaceflight Center Source: Wikipedia

The system is four light years away. Source: Goddard Spaceflight Center

Thirty-three stars are within 12.5 light years Move out 12.5 light years. Thirty-three stars are within 12.5 light years Note: Pictures and information that follows comes from http://www.atlasoftheuniverse.com/12lys.html

Move out 250 light years. 260,000 stars are in this area.

Move out 5,000 light years (Orion Arm). 600,000,000 stars are in this area.

At 50,000 light years, you see the Milky Way. There are about 200,000,000,000 stars in the Milky Way.

More exploration of the Milky Way (click the picture below). The Sun Source: Atlas of the Universe

The Local Group – 13 galaxies Move out 500,000 light years. The Local Group – 13 galaxies

Source: Cal Tech 2MASS Galaxy Redshift Catalog (XSCz) What is the Nearest Galaxy to the Milky Way? Source: Cal Tech 2MASS Galaxy Redshift Catalog (XSCz)

Move out 5,000,000 light years. 49 galaxies

The Virgo Super cluster – 200 galaxy groups, 53,000 galaxies Move out 100,000,000 light years. The Virgo Super cluster – 200 galaxy groups, 53,000 galaxies

Move out 1,000,000,000 light years. Neighboring Super clusters – 100; 240,000 clusters, 63,000,000 galaxies

Move out 14,000,000,000 light years (the visible universe). 10,000,000 super clusters, 25,000,000,000 clusters, 7.4 trillion galaxies, 30 billion trillion stars.

It sure looks like the Universe is full of stuff, right? WRONG!

What’s between the stars?

Space is mostly made of empty space! Galaxies can pass thru each other with no stars colliding!

How does the Sun relate to the Milky Way? The Sun is one star out of 200,000,000,000.

How does the Sun relate to the Universe? The Sun is one star out of thirty billion trillion.

How does the Milky Way compare to the Universe? It belongs to one of 10,000,000 super clusters.

How does the Milky Way compare to the Universe? It belongs to one of 25,000,000,000 clusters.

How does the Milky Way compare to the Universe? It is one of 7.4 trillion galaxies. Source: Hubble Space Telescope