Scale of the universe

This course is a part of Cosmology and astronomy, a 4-course Topic series from Khan Academy.

Things in our universe can be unimaginably large and small. In this topic, we'll try to imagine the unimaginable!

This course contains 4 segments:

Scale of earth, sun, galaxy and universe

The Earth is huge, but it is tiny compared to the Sun (which is super huge). But the Sun is tiny compared to the solar system which is tiny compared to the distance to the next star. Oh, did we mention that there are over 100 billion stars in our galaxy (which is about 100,000 light years in diameter) which is one of hundreds of billions of galaxies in just the observable universe (which might be infinite for all we know). Don't feel small. We find it liberating. Your everyday human stresses are nothing compared to this enormity that we are a part of. Enjoy the fact that we get to be part of this vastness!

Time scale of the cosmos

Not only is the universe unimaginable large (possibly infinite), but it is also unimaginably old. If you were feeling small in space, wait until you realize that all of human history is but a tiny blip in the history of the universe.

Light and fundamental forces

This tutorial gives an overview of light and the fundamental four forces. You won't have a degree in physics after this, but it'll give you some good context for understanding cosmology and the universe we are experiencing. It should be pretty understandable by someone with a very basic background in science.

Big bang and expansion of the universe

What does it mean for the universe to expand? Was the "big bang" an explosion of some sort or a rapid expansion of space-time (it was the latter)? If the universe was/is expanding, what is "outside" it? How do we know how far/old things are? This tutorial addresses some of the oldest questions known to man.