Scales of the Universe

Displayed along the 400-foot-long walkway that hugs the glass curtain wall on the second level of the Rose Center for Earth and Space, the Scales of the Universe vividly illustrates the vast range of sizes in the universe, from subatomic particles and objects on the human scale to the largest objects in the observable cosmos. The exhibit features realistically rendered planets, including a 9-foot-diameter model of Jupiter and Saturn with rings 17 feet in diameter, that hang from the ceiling.

The 87-foot diameter Hayden Sphere at the center of the Rose Center serves as a central reference for illustrating the relative sizes of galaxies, stars, planets, cells, and atoms, with text panels and models that invite visitors to make different sets of comparisons. For example, if the sphere represents the Milky Way galaxy, a typical star cluster within it is the size of a baseball. If the sphere is taken to be the Sun, Earth would be the size of a grapefruit.

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Exhibit Size Scales of the Universe This exhibit explores the known range of size scales in the cosmos, from the observable universe at the very largest, down to the... Exhibit Observable Universe Our observable universe extends more than 10^26 meters in every direction. Exhibit Galaxies and Their Sizes We live in the Milky Way Galaxy, a disk-shaped galaxy roughly a hundred thousand light-years across and two thousand light-years... Exhibit Stars and Their Sizes Our star, the Sun, is 1.4 million kilometers across. Exhibit Planets and Their Sizes Earth is nearly 13,000 kilometers across. The smallest terrestrial planet, Mercury, has a diameter about 40 percent of that size. Exhibit Atoms and Their Sizes Atoms range in size from a few tenths of a nanometer to several nanometers across.