Universe

Zoom out from Earth's solar system to the Milky Way Galaxy, the Local Group, and beyondSee all videos for this article

universe, the whole cosmic system of matter and energy of which Earth, and therefore the human race, is a part. Humanity has traveled a long road since societies imagined Earth, the Sun, and the Moon as the main objects of creation, with the rest of the universe being formed almost as an afterthought. Today it is known that Earth is only a small ball of rock in a space of unimaginable vastness and that the birth of the solar system was probably only one event among many that occurred against the backdrop of an already mature universe. This humbling lesson has unveiled a remarkable fact, one that endows the minutest particle in the universe with a rich and noble heritage: events that occurred in the first few minutes of the creation of the universe 13.7 billion years ago turn out to have had a profound influence on the birth, life, and death of galaxies, stars, and planets. Indeed, a line can be drawn from the forging of the matter of the universe in a primal “big bang” to the gathering on Earth of atoms versatile enough to serve as the basis of life. The intrinsic harmony of such a worldview has great philosophical and aesthetic appeal, and it may explain why public interest in the universe has always endured.

Examine the observable universe's place within the whole universeSee all videos for this article

This article traces the development over time of humanity’s perception of the universe, from prehistoric observations of the night sky to modern calculations on the recessional velocity of galaxies. For articles on component parts of the universe, see solar system, star, galaxy, and nebula. For an explanation of the scientific study of the universe as a unified whole, see cosmology. For an article about the possible existence of other universes, see multiverse.