Cosmic Scale: Universe & Space

Universe size comparison in 3D: see how big planets, stars, black holes and galaxies really are, side by side at true scale. Fly from a small asteroid to the edge of the observable universe and feel how big space is.

How big is the Sun next to Earth? How small is the Sun next to the largest stars? What does a black hole do to a star that comes too close? And where are we, inside the Milky Way and beyond?

Cosmic Scale lines up 77 objects from smallest to largest, from a 490-metre asteroid to the Solar System and the Oort Cloud, and 137 with the Beyond pack, which adds galaxies, nebulae and the largest structures in the cosmos. Every one is drawn at its true size, so it is a planet, star and black hole size comparison in one: a 3D solar system and beyond.

COMPARE ANY TWO

"The Sun is 109× wider than Earth. About 1.3 million Earths would fit inside it. Light crosses it in 4.6 seconds." Pick any two objects and see them side by side at real scale.

33 SPACE SIMULATIONS

Cosmic Scale is also a space simulator. 19 simulations show what really happens in space, step by step, with real numbers: a pulsar, the Sun's death, a black hole tearing a star apart, a supernova, colliding neutron stars, comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 hitting Jupiter, the asteroid that ended the dinosaurs, how a star is born, S301, the fastest star round our galaxy's black hole, the Big Bang and more. 14 What ifs follow the theory where no one has looked: Earth that stops spinning, Earth with a ring, a space elevator, the Sun as a black hole, wormholes. Anything no eye could see is drawn and labelled as drawn.

ASK ABOUT SPACE

A space guide answers your questions about planets, stars and spaceflight.

AS YOU'D SEE IT

Ten simulations also play as a short film of only the light your eyes would catch, in true colours, with nothing drawn over it.

SKY: WHAT IS ABOVE YOU TONIGHT

See tonight's Moon and bright planets, plus the eclipses, meteor showers and planet meetings coming up this year, worked out on your phone from real orbits. Get a note the evening before something worth looking up for (you can switch it off in Settings), and add your location to see which eclipses you can see.

THE TOUR

Press play and fly from an asteroid past moons, planets, stars and black holes out to the observable universe, with calm music and a bell for every step up in size. At each layer we live inside, the tour dives in to show where we are: Earth in the Solar System, the Solar System in the Milky Way, all the way out.

INSPECT ANYTHING IN 3D

Turn any object with your finger: tilt Saturn's rings, spin a galaxy edge-on, look down onto a black hole's glowing disk, and share a picture.

REAL MAPS, PHOTOS AND SOUNDS

Planets and moons wear real maps from NASA missions. Open any object for real photographs, from the Blue Marble to Webb's deep fields, each credited. Listen to the wind on Mars, lightning on Jupiter, Saturn's radio auroras and NASA's sonifications of black holes.

15 LANGUAGES

English, Español, Português, Français, Deutsch, Türkçe, Bahasa Indonesia, Tiếng Việt, Русский, Oʻzbekcha, العربية, हिन्दी, 简体中文, 日本語 and 한국어.

FREE, WITH OPTIONAL VIDEOS

Every simulation opens for 24 hours with one short video, and so do the Beyond pack and Ultra graphics. Ads appear only at natural breaks, never inside a simulation.

COSMIC SCALE PRO

No ads, ever, and everything open at once: all 137 objects, every simulation and film, and Ultra graphics. $20 a year, $3 a month, or $30 once for life. Subscriptions renew until you cancel them in Google Play. No sign-up needed: Pro stays with your Google account.

For astronomy fans, students, teachers and anyone curious about how big the universe is. Sizes come from NASA/JPL fact sheets and published measurements. Supergiant stars and the largest galaxies are uncertain by tens of percent; for black holes the size shown is the event horizon.