Cosmic structures · Everything we can ever see
Observable Universe
You are at the centre
- Across
- 93.0 billion light-years
- Vs Earth
- 930,000× Milky Way
- Mass
- 7.5 × 10²² Suns
Open Observable Universe in Cosmic Scale
In the app, Observable Universe is part of the Beyond pack.
About
The observable universe is the sphere around us from which light has had time to arrive since the Big Bang. It is not the whole universe — only the part we can, even in principle, ever see.
Light has had 13.8 billion years to reach us, but space expanded meanwhile: the edge is 46.5 billion light-years away.
At a glance
| Diameter | 93 billion light-years |
|---|---|
| Age | 13.8 billion years |
| Galaxies | Up to 2 trillion |
| Ordinary matter | Only 5% of the contents |
Did you know
- The edge is 46.5 billion light-years away even though light has travelled for 13.8 billion years — space expanded while the light was in flight.
- The oldest light we can see is the cosmic microwave background, released 380,000 years after the Big Bang.
- Galaxies are arranged in a web of filaments and voids, shaped by dark matter.
Simulations
- The Big Bang — How the universe grew from a hot, dense beginning into a web of galaxies, over 13.8 billion years
Real photos
- MoM-z14, a galaxy seen as it was 280 million years after the Big Bang — confirmed by Webb, 2026 — NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, R. Naidu (MIT), Image Processing: J. DePasquale (STScI) (CC BY 4.0) · source
- The Hubble Ultra Deep Field: about 10,000 galaxies in a speck of sky — NASA, ESA, and S. Beckwith (STScI) and the HUDF Team (CC BY 4.0) · source
- Webb's First Deep Field, 2022: galaxies whose light left them over 13 billion years ago — NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI (CC BY 4.0) · source