A LOGARITHMIC LOOK AT THE COSMOS

Cosmic Scale Explorer.

Move along one ruler, from a familiar human scale to the Milky Way. Each step changes what “far” means.

SCALE SNAPSHOT REFERENCE 01 / 09

REFERENCE 01 · EVERYDAY SCALE

A person

A familiar height gives us a place to begin.

LOGARITHMIC RULER 10⁰—10²¹ M

LENGTH NOW 1.7 m 10^0.2 m

LIGHT TO CROSS IT 5.7 ns One-way travel time

JUMP FROM PREVIOUS POINT Starting point

Move through the scale 10^0.2 m

1.7 m1 AU100,000 light-years

REFERENCE POINTS SELECT TO JUMP

How to explore: Drag the marker for a continuous journey, or choose a reference point. The ruler is logarithmic: equal-looking jumps represent powers of ten.

LENGTHS AND DISTANCES · NOT TO SCALE

Reference notes

Values are rounded. The ruler places object diameters and average distances on the same length scale; light-crossing times are one way.