The Earth from space

Over the past centuries, astronomers have defined our place in the wider Universe. Space is filled with a few hundred billion galaxies, grouped into vast clusters and even larger superclusters. Our own Milky Way galaxy contains a few hundred billion stars, with a wide variety of sizes, masses and colours. The Sun is just an average star, orbited by a handful of tiny planets. One of those planets is the Earth — the cradle of humanity. This speck of cosmic dust is where all of society’s history has played itself out.