How Big is the Universe?

The Universe is gigantic, bigger than you can probably imagine. If you were to stand in the middle of the Universe, the outer edge (if there is one) would be a huge 440,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 km away, and that's just the observable Universe. We don't really know how big it actually is or if it's infinite.

Did you know that the Universe is expanding? You can demonstrate this with a balloon!

This video is a great way to visualise just how big the Universe is.

More questions about the Universe

How old is the Universe?

The Universe is thought to be around 13.8 billion years old!

What is the Universe made of?

You might think the Universe is mostly empty space, but scientists believe it's composed of around 68% dark energy, 27% dark matter, and 5% ordinary matter.

Ordinary matter is what stars, planets, dust and life are made from. Dark energy is a force that appears to be driving the growth of the Universe, and dark matter is an invisible form of matter that seems to hold groups of stars together.