A Hubble mosaic of Andromeda's bright central region, dark dust lanes and densely packed stars.

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Preparing the 3D view

Preparing lighting and the first complete frame…

Model scale

Earth–Moon. centre separation 384,400 km. bodies enlarged.

Signal progress 40% · elapsed 0.51 s. Displayed radius enlargement: Earth ×4.8; Moon ×4.8.

How to read these results

384400 km is a mean centre distance, not a fixed lunar orbit. At 1× speed, Play compresses each light journey into 24 seconds.

Universe scale

Compare distances within and beyond the Solar System, using light-travel time to make their scale easier to understand.

Drag to rotate. Hold Ctrl and scroll to zoom, or pinch on a touch screen.

Why it happens

Distances within the Solar System are commonly measured in astronomical units; distances between stars are more conveniently measured in light-years. Changing scale helps separate an object’s size from its distance away.

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NASA/ESA Hubble mosaic of Andromeda. Resolved stars and dust lanes provide an observed view of a galaxy about 2.5 million light-years away.

Try a comparison

Compare physical scale, then jump to 1 AU and to the nearest stellar neighbour.

Reading the result

A logarithmic view makes large ranges readable, but equal screen distances in that view do not represent equal physical distances.

A common misunderstanding

Equal gaps on a logarithmic distance display represent equal physical distances.

On a logarithmic scale, equal displayed intervals represent equal ratios rather than equal additions. Moving one interval might multiply the distance by ten. Read the distance labels and distinguish the size of a displayed object from the much larger separation between objects.

Cases

Process0.40Distance comparison