DR5 Projects
 Basic
     - Scavenger Hunt
     - The Universe
     - Asteroids
     - Types of Stars
     - Color
     - Galaxies
 Advanced
 Challenges
 For Kids
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 Links to Others
The Universe
 Your Cosmic Address
 How Big is It?
 Expanding Universe
 How do We Know?
 Distances
 Magnitudes
 Redshifts
 Making the Diagram
 Diagram and Universe
 The Big Bang
 More Galaxies
 Research Challenges
 Your Results

The Universe: Your Cosmic Address

NOTE: the Universe project recently changed. The older version is still available.

Where do you live? Your home or your school has an address: a street, a city or town, and a country. When someone wants to send you a letter, they give your address, so that your mail carrier knows the letter should go to you. For example, the address of the astronomy building at Johns Hopkins University is:

3701 San Martin Drive
Baltimore, Maryland 21218
United States of America

Question 1. What is your school's address?

But does this address really describe where you are? Imagine extending the address out to bigger and bigger divisions, until it becomes a "cosmic address" that includes your continent, planet, galaxy, and universe. So the "cosmic address" of the Johns Hopkins astronomy building would be:

3701 San Martin Drive
Baltimore, Maryland 21218
USA
North America
Earth
The Solar System
The Milky Way Galaxy
The Universe

Question 2. What is your school's cosmic address?

The last step of the cosmic address is the largest division: the universe. The universe is actually everything and everywhere. Every star and every galaxy we see is part of the same universe. The universe is a really big place!

Just how big is the universe? Click Next to find out.

Clip art licensed from the Clip Art Gallery on DiscoverySchool.com