Here’s How Big Our Cities Really Are. Los Angeles seems like a relatively big town. In fact, it is the second largest city in the United States. The area spans 502 square miles (1,300 sq km), and some ...

There’s something about comparing the size of objects—say, moons or sci-fi starships—that is endlessly appealing. But while comparisons we’ve seen cover subsets of stuffs, none have looked at the big ...

The vast realm probed by radio astronomers is one invisible to the naked eye, and even most kinds of telescopes. Now, thanks to the latest advances in radio observatories, scientists are uncovering an ...

If Earth had the same diameter as the head of a pushpin, how much would all of the other celestial bodies in the universe need to shrink to scale proportionally? It’s a fun, ridiculous question and ...

Editor's Note: This story was updated at 5:10 p.m. E.T. There's nothing like staring up at the night sky to make you feel small. But when looking out into the cosmos, you might also wonder: What is ...

Nicholas Tothill receives funding from the Australian Research Council. Andrew Hopkins, Luke Barnes, and Miroslav Filipovic do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company ...

Biggest vs smallest - how do we measure up in the grand scheme of the universe? Explore the fascinating scales of existence, from quantum particles to the observable universe’s edge. A journey into ...

Radio astronomers see what the naked eye can't. As we study the sky with telescopes that record radio signals rather than light, we end up seeing a lot of circles. The newest generation of radio ...