Cosmic Address for Kids:
where are you in the universe?
A home address goes from big to small: country, city, street, house. A cosmic address keeps going outward — planet, star system, galaxy, and beyond. Making one is one of the simplest ways to help a child feel how each place sits inside the next.
A cosmic address, from big to small
| Level | Name | A fact to share |
|---|---|---|
| Supercluster | Laniakea Supercluster | Named in 2014; about 100,000 galaxies |
| Supercluster (part of Laniakea) | Virgo Supercluster | Also called the Local Supercluster |
| Galaxy group | Local Group | The Milky Way, the Andromeda Galaxy and dozens of smaller galaxies |
| Galaxy | The Milky Way | Roughly 100,000 light-years across, with hundreds of billions of stars |
| Spiral arm | The Orion Arm | The Sun is about 26,000 light-years from the galaxy’s center |
| Star system | The Solar System | The Sun and its eight planets |
| Planet | Earth | Sunlight takes about 8 minutes 20 seconds to reach us |
| Country → town → home | (your own) | The part that makes it yours |
For children aged 4–5, five circles are plenty: Universe → Earth → country → home → me. Add the Milky Way and the Solar System as they grow.
Making one together (15 minutes)
- Draw nested circles — the biggest is the universe; each smaller circle goes inside
- Name them from the outside in and put the child in the very middle
- Read it aloud: “inside the universe, inside the Milky Way, inside the Solar System…”
- Make one for grandparents who live somewhere else — only the inner circles change
Or zoom through it
In the free app You Are Here, children travel the whole chain with smooth zooms — from the galaxy down to their hometown and into their body — then make a cosmic address card — with a self-portrait they draw in the middle and a note for Grandma & Grandpa, Mom & Dad or a friend. Saving, sharing and printing sit behind a quick grown-up check, and the app itself never uploads anything.