My cosmic address nesting map
15 minutes · Paper · Pencil
Your investigation
- Draw four nested boxes labeled Earth, Solar System, Milky Way, and observable universe, with Earth in the smallest.
- Place the Moon near Earth in the Solar System box, and the Sun elsewhere in that box.
- Add another star and an imaginary planetary system in the Milky Way box.
- Write “these boxes show membership, not scale or exact boundaries.”
Think, draw, explain
Which is larger: Solar System or Milky Way?
Should every star be placed inside our Solar System box?
Grown-up guide & possible answers
- The Milky Way is enormously larger and contains our Solar System among many other stellar systems.
- No. The Sun is our local star; other stars belong elsewhere in the galaxy or in other galaxies. The boxes are a concept map, not a literal layout.