Cosmic Distance Scale Slider

A 'powers of ten' zoom from a proton to the observable universe.

Drag one continuous, logarithmic slider from a proton all the way out to the observable universe — 42 orders of magnitude, anchored to 24 familiar reference objects along the way (an atom, a grain of sand, a blue whale, Earth, the Sun, the Milky Way, the Virgo Supercluster). Every stop shows its real size and how many times bigger or smaller it is than a human being. Runs fully in your browser — nothing is uploaded.

About Cosmic Distance Scale Slider

Cosmic Distance Scale Slider features

How to use Cosmic Distance Scale Slider

  1. Drag the slider

    Move it left toward the quantum scale, or right toward the cosmic scale — the reference object updates instantly.

  2. Or jump directly

    Use the dropdown or click any dot on the ladder to jump straight to a specific object's scale.

  3. Read the comparison

    Every stop shows its size and how many times bigger or smaller it is than a human being.

  4. Explore the extremes

    Push all the way to either end to see just how small a proton, or how vast the observable universe, really is.

Frequently asked questions

What is the 'powers of ten' scale?

It's a way of comparing sizes that differ by many orders of magnitude on one continuous, logarithmic axis — popularized by the 1977 short film 'Powers of Ten' by Charles and Ray Eames, which zoomed from a picnic blanket out to the edge of the observable universe and back down into a proton.

How big is the observable universe?

The observable universe is about 93 billion light-years in diameter. That's larger than '13.8 billion light-years × 2' (the universe's age times the speed of light) because space itself has been expanding the whole time light has been traveling toward us.

How much bigger is the Sun than Earth?

The Sun's diameter (about 1.39 million km) is roughly 109 times Earth's diameter (about 12,742 km) — and by volume, about 1.3 million Earths could fit inside it.

What is the smallest thing on this scale?

The smallest reference point is a proton, at about 1.7 femtometres (1.7 × 10⁻¹⁵ metres) across — roughly 100,000 times smaller than the hydrogen atom that contains it.

Why use a logarithmic scale instead of a normal one?

On a normal (linear) scale, anything smaller than a planet would be an invisible dot next to the observable universe. A logarithmic scale gives every order of magnitude — every ×10 step — equal space on the slider, so you can meaningfully compare a virus to a whale to a galaxy on the same axis.

Is this Cosmic Distance Scale Slider free?

Yes — completely free, no sign-up, no app to install. Everything runs instantly in your browser and nothing you enter is stored or uploaded.

Related tools — Space & Sky