Written by Hridhaan Kohli, a grade 4 student.

The universe is vast – so vast that you can’t really measure it in kilometers or miles. There’s a special way of doing that – it’s called Light-Years, which is basically the distance that light travels in one year. One light-year is about 9 trillion km!

How long is the solar system?

The distance between Earth and the edge of the universe (as far as we can observe it) is 46 billion light-years. The diameter is about 93 billion light-years. Imagine that!

Why is our galaxy called the Milky Way?

Milky Way got its name from the Roman Empire – they named it “via lactea” which means the “road of milk”. There are more than 100 billion galaxies. Milky Way is one of the biggest.

Galaxies are collections of star systems and everything that is inside those systems (such as planets, stars, asteroids, comets, dwarf planets, gas, dust, and more). Our own Milky Way is about 100,000 light-years across, NASA says;

The only galaxy bigger than the Milky Way now is one known as IC 1101. It is 50 times bigger than the Milky Way! Our Milky Way has a diameter between 150,000 and 200,000 light-years.

It’s a big, big universe.

Did you know in 2021 ISRO planned the Chandrayaan 3 launch, but due to Coronavirus, it has been delayed? India’s first manned spaced mission, Gaganyaan has also been delayed to 2022.

Also Read: Fun Facts About Solar Systems

Written by Hridhaan Kohli.

Hridhaan is a talented boy in art and chess. He loves to play cricket and swim. He is 10 years old and loves to travel to hills and go to hilly areas.

Better Your Child’s G.K. In 3 Minutes – Get This Free Newsletter
Get fun facts, simple and easy news, quizzes, and lots of other interesting things to read in your mailbox – for free! It’s what we call GK-on-the-go!

I Kid You Not now has a large readership across India and also parts of the world. If you want to write for us, you can submit your story here. You can also apply to become a news anchor. Apply here